Lying with the Truth
by oanya
Summary: Cammie, Zach, Macey, Bex and Liz are in their last year at the Gallagher Academy preparing for their final exam when a stranger turns up at their door in the middle of the night with a gunshot wound in his shoulder. He claims he's against the Circle of Cavan. A shocking secret, a lie, and a kiss later, it still isn't clear what is the truth, and what is a lie...
1. Prologue

**Lying With The Truth**

**Although this story is finished please still review I would love to hear what you think and will read your reviews regardless ! :D**

**Chapter 1 **

Zach very gently caught my fingers, steadying my hand. He wrapped his other arm around me, so he was tenderly hugging me. He held me close to his chest, which smelled like woodsy deodorant, and rested his chin on my head. I was glad. He hid me away from the outside world, muffling sounds until it was just me and him. A tear welled up in the corner of my eye, but I quickly swiped it away before Zach could see.

"It's going to be OK, Cam," He whispered, deliberately not using the alias Mr Solomon had given me just over an hour ago. "We're going to get through this. Don't give us away now."

My chest swelled with affection. I had never loved Zach more than I loved him now. Sweet, brave, charming, smirking, frustrating, loving, Zach.

"I won't give us away." I told him confidently. "I promise."

We stepped into the ballroom, momentarily dazzled by the beauty of the ancient room. The Circle spared no expense. In our disguises we weren't recognised. Zach had slicked his hair back, and he was wearing brown contacts. Macey had dyed my hair temporarily red and curled it until it fell like a ruby waterfall down my back. I was wearing blue contacts.

Nobody recognised us. Nobody except one person.

Across the hall, Sam lifted a champagne glass at us in greeting, and smirked.


	2. The Boy

Before we begin( and I'll make this quick) I realise I have to put a disclaimer this applies to all chapters.

Secondly, thankyou for reading and reviewing it means a lot to me!

**Also, EVEN THOUGH THIS STORY IS COMPLETED PLEASE STILL REVIEW I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK**

**CHAPTER 1**

_INTRUDER! INTRUDER ALERT! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK!_

I woke up instantly, adrenaline rushed through me. The light coming in from under the door shut off and in its place an extremely dim purple light. Liz, Macey and Bex's face were identical to mine. Our heads snapped to the windows as a titanium sheet covered the window and titanium bars slammed down over that with a bang.

"You heard the man, move, move, move!" Bex's voice broke our trance. We were in action immediately. I threw my covers back, crouched down to retrieve a small bag from under my bed. In it was equipment that I could possible need- A GPS satellite map navigator, gloves, coloured contacts, hair dye, 50 feet of rappel-a-cord, evapopaper, shoes, sub-thermal freezer, bandana, top, socks, pants, flare gun, matches, and various other things that all fit into a compact and lightweight bag no bigger than one foot.

My roommates had the same type of bag underneath their bed. We grabbed it and went down a corridor, behind one of the hidden entrances I knew- which was a portrait of the 4th headmistress of the Gallagher Academy, Victoria Gallagher- and ran down it to the safe roomed assigned to me, Macey, Bex, Liz and Zach. Ever since the whole deal with the Circle of Cavan, which put me in danger, my mother assigned everybody in the school to a safe house that was three miles away, which we could get to through an underground tunnel. Me and my friends, however, were special cases. We had our own safe room. It was full of technology for Liz to work with, stacks of books we may need and supplies like carabineers, passports and forged files with various aliases, and food and water, plus the keys to the super-speed van Liz and Dr Moskowitz had finished. We were all set.

We found Zach already in the room, pacing around. It was pitch black, and my eyes were still getting adjusted so I couldn't see him properly, but I could hear him. The alarm shut off suddenly, and the only noise was Zach's footsteps and the rain pounding on the walls, with the occasional flash of thunder and lightning.

"Zach! For goodness sake stop moving!" I hissed. Zach slumped into a chair and didn't make a noise. We stayed like that, silent, waiting, for a few minutes. Then we heard shuffling outside of our door. We instantly jumped into fighting position. Liz behind a wall, Zach near the door, me and Macey with our backs pressed against the only other door out, and Bex, being Bex, in the centre of the room in a Tae Kwon Do fighting stance.

The door slowly peeled open, and a dark figure stepped in. Liz slammed on the switch and lights came on, to reveal Mr Solomon standing in the doorway with Bex's foot inches away from his throat, and Zach with a gun in his hand, pointed at Mr Solomon's temple.

Joe Solomon made no move to defend himself, but stood there until Bex put her foot down and Zach tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans. I exhaled with relief.

"Mr Solomon, thank God it's just you." I breathed. "What's going on?"

"Zach, Cammie, come with me. The rest of you may go back to your dorms." Mr Solomon turned on his heel giving no further explanation.

"What?!" Bex yelled after him. "You can't tell us to go back to our dorms safe and sound, after there's been a break in!"

"Bex, please." I told her quietly. "Listen to him. Besides, you know I'll tell you about it later."

"Cammie's right." Macey reasoned, tugging on Bex's arm. "We should listen to Mr Solomon."

Reassured Bex wasn't going to pull anything Bexish; I turned and followed Zach down the corridor until we came to the mouth of the painting where Mr Solomon was waiting for us. From there, we moved swiftly to the corridor I recognised held the sick ward. My mom and Aunt Abby were in the room, gathered around a bed. The nurse was just finishing wrapping a bandage around someone. Mr Solomon went to join my mom and aunt.

"Has he said anything?" He asked.

"No, Joe. Nothing you haven't already heard him say." Abby told him. Me and Zach glanced warily at each other, before edging forward to see the mysterious "he".

Everyone stepped back to let me and Zach closer to the bed. On the bed, wet from rain and sweat was a boy around eighteen years old. He had two pale lines on his left cheek that must have been from previous scars, which made him look fierce and dangerous. I leaned in closer to look at him… he reminded me of someone…

The way his lips curved, and the straightness of his nose, the sharp cut of his jawline and the way his hair flopped over on his forehead… I couldn't put my finger on it. The boy's eyes snapped open, pupils dilating before fixing them onto my face. I gasped and tried to back away but I was held firmly in place- he had reached out and grabbed me. The blankets had shifted, revealing a bandage patch on his right shoulder. He was gripping me with his right arm, and it must've hurt but he showed no fear.

"Cameron Morgan," He rasped. "Hide. Run. Just get away." I tried to step back again. He was radiating danger now. Mr Solomon stepped forward to help me but I stopped him with a look.

"Please let go. I don't want to have to hurt you." I whispered. His grip didn't loosen, so I twisted my arm and hit pressure points until he was forced to let me go from the pain in his shoulder. "I told you." The boy grinned, a pained grin that showed traces of relief.

"Don't lose that. Don't ever stop fighting." He told me. His eyes swivelled round, until he found Zach, who had edged closer to me protectively. The boy on the bed laughed.

"Who are you?" Zach asked roughly. Bullet wound guy closed his eyes.

"Sam G-" The boy tried to say his name. His eyes rolled around, losing focus. But before he lost consciousness, he managed to whisper- "Sam Goode. Hello, baby brother."

Then he fell unconscious.


	3. Suspicious

So you all see it, I'm spoiler alert, I'm going to put this on every chapter... **Even though this story is over, please feel free to review! I still want to hear your opinion! :D**

**Chapter 2**

Sam Goode. "Baby brother". The similarities. It couldn't be possible, could it? I was alone in the infirmary, with Zach. After she was convinced Sam was completely under, Aunt Abby practically ordered mom and Mr Solomon out of the room. She gave me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder before following suit and walking out of the infirmary, leaving me and Zach alone.

I had expected him to be shifting around, pacing and thinking, thinking and pacing. Instead, he did the exact opposite. He was sat down on a chair, head in his hands, completely still, while I was the one pacing around. I tried sitting, it didn't work. I started drumming my hands on my thighs and bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet until I was forced to start moving around again.

He has to be lying. He can't be Zach's brother.

"He isn't lying, Cammie. Look at him. We look exactly the same." Zach's voice was muffled as he spoke through his fingers.

"Was I talking out loud?" I asked.

"Yes. But even if you weren't, I could tell you were thinking about it." Zach's hushed voice told me. He looked up, face pale, brows crinkling. I had never seen Zach look like this. When he saw his mom threaten me, he looked bad, but this was a new kind of bad.

He knew how to deal with his mother. He didn't know how to deal with this.

"Zach, how are you, about all this?" I asked, sitting next to him.

"I have a brother I never knew about turn up to my school with a bullet wound in his shoulder just a few months after my mom tries to kill the girl I lo-…" He stopped himself suddenly. "Tries to kill someone I know and I'm… suspicious."

"What?" I stared at him blankly. I was momentarily flushed, thinking he was going to call me the girl he loves, but he completely stunned me. "You're suspicious?"

"Yeah, Cammie, I kind of am. If your dad walked through that door right now, wouldn't you be a bit suspicious?" He asked, and then his head snapped up, mouth open in shock. Tears were welling up in my eyes. "Cam- I didn't mean it like that, I—"

"If my dad walked through that door right now, I would be over the moon. Because I miss him so much it hurts. But I don't have the privilege of being suspicious when family members turn up, because I _know _my dad is dead." My voice was eerily quiet.

"I'm sorry, Cammie, I never meant to say that." Zach stood up, and grabbed my hand, holding it. I snatched it back.

"I'm sorry too." I whispered. "But no matter what you're going through you had no right to say that."

"Cammie, please." Zach moved closer to me, until I could smell his peppermint mouthwash. I turned my face up so I could look him in the eye. "After what happened with you and my mother, I would never forgive myself if you got hurt. I'm sorry for what I said, and I hope you can forgive me."

I looked away, because I didn't want him to see me crying. "Just go, please." I whispered.

And he did. He left me alone with Sam Goode, the boy who warned me to run.


	4. Sam Goode

**EVEN THOUGH THE STORY IS COMPLETED, PLEASE STILL REVIEW ! :)**

**CHAPTER 3**

**SAM**

"Say it again."

"The Circle of Cavan is bad. I will never join them." I repeated.

"It doesn't sound like you mean it, Sam." My father sighed. "Don't you understand how vital it is you stay as far away from the Circle of Cavan as possible?"

"I understand, Dad." I looked at my father earnestly. His features softened.

"So tell me again."

"The Circle of Cavan is bad. I will never join them."

"Very good." My father gave me a relieved smile.

I was only eight at the time, but my father had raised me with a few rules in mind- the most important of them being _don't trust the Circle of Cavan_.

This was closely followed by _a spy's best friend is a slow pulse_. Meaning, keeping cool in a bad situation and passing a lie-detector test with flying colours.

Of course, these rules didn't mean squat when I found out I had a brother. This was when I was twelve. Zachary Goode, goes by Zach. Attends Blackthorne Academy. He was told by our mother that our father was dead. He didn't even know I existed.

My father was with the Circle of Cavan, until his parents were killed for being against it. By then my father was married to my mother and I was born. He ran away with me, in hope to get his family away from the evil that was the Circle of Cavan. But he didn't realise that his ex-wife was pregnant with Zach. When he did find out, Zach was in Blackthorne and my father thought it was too late to save him.

I confronted my father about Zach. He knew about him. He didn't care. At least, that's the way it seemed.

He just didn't want me getting hurt if he went after Zach, leaving me unprotected. Or what would happen if he went after Zach and he got killed, leaving me alone.

I had spied on my mother and brother. I saw how she was. I didn't care what my father thought. I lost my cool. I ran away,going to save Zach myself. It didn't work. Halfway there I ran into some of the Circle's spies, and I was terrified. I ran back home to find my father- dead.

He was killed a little over three years ago. I had spent three years learning about Zach, learning about him and Blackthorne. I wanted to warn him about our mother, the Circle, tell him about our father. I hoped to make sure he saw the Circle of Cavan for what it was.

But he already knew. And then he fell in love with her. Cammie Morgan. She was dangerous to him. If the Circle wanted her dead, they would stop at nothing to kill her. So I snooped around, found out why they wanted her dead. Then I found out what her father did. And that's when I joined the Circle of Cavan.


	5. It Was Perfect

**Hey so it turns out while editing this chapter I posted the chapter for Hidden in Plain Sight by accident.**

**I know, smooth, right? .**

**This chapter is on my USB and until i find it I'll just try to recreate the chapter, but it won't be exact.**

* * *

"Full name and date of birth, please?" Abby asked Sam, holding a digital recorder in her hand.

"Samuel Cristian Goode. Date of birth, 19th November 1992." Sam said. I sat tensely on the edge of my seat. Zach was sitting as far away from Sam as possible, in the other corner of the room.

I did the math in my head- he was 19, one year older than Zach. He would be 20 in a few months.

"Height?"

"Six foot six." Zach was six foot five. They were both tall.

"What are you doing here?" My mother burst in. Abby gave my mother a warning look.

"Rachel." She said quietly.

"Don't 'Rachel' me, Abby. Don't I have the right to know why this- this _stranger- _who claims to be Zach's brother shows up in the middle of the night with a bullet in his shoulder, rambling on about how Cammie needs to run away and hide?!" My mother said hotly. Sam looked slightly offended.

"I don't _claim_ to be Zach's brother, I am his brother. And your daughter does need to get to safety because the Circle is looking for her, and they want to kill her. Stephen Cavan is handling this particular mission personally." Sam said seriously. His pulse was steady, his pupils didn't dilate- he was telling the truth. Either that or he was a very good liar.

Zach very abruptly got off the chair he was sitting on in the corner of the room and walked out of the infirmary door, nearly crashing into Chef. Sam looked at the door where Zach walked out expressionlessly.

"_The _Stephen Cavan?" Mr Solomon was saying. In the back of my mind, I remembered Joe telling me about how Stephen was Ioseph Cavan's direct descendant. Chef cleared his throat from the doorway.

"Excuse me Mrs Morgan, Ms Cameron, but I need Cammie to come to the cafeteria immediately." Chef said with a sheepish smile. Chef was a tall burly man made up of at least six pounds of muscle. He was a trained spy who prefered to spend his time in the kitchen with spatulas and whisks rather than out in draughty cold tunnels with guns and rappel-a-cord.

"What's wrong, Chef?" My mother asked tiredly.

"Miss McHenry, Miss Sutton and Miss Baxter are threatening to go on a hunger strike if Miss Morgan doesn't make an appearance, and in Miss Baxter's words, tell them 'what the freaking hell is going on'" Chef explained grimly.

Sam smirked, looking scarily like Zach when he did that. "Cammie, you can go to the cafeteria while me and Abby... finish off our business here." My mother told me.

I sort of wanted to stay and see what Sam said, but at the same time, I didn't. Either way, I had to act like everything was normal, so I skipped ahead of Chef into the cafeteria and sat down next to Bex, opposite Macey and Liz.

In front of me was a plate of waffles drizzled with honey, but even though they smelled delicious I had no appetite. Three seats away from Bex, Tina was doing what she did best- blabbing random gossip she had made up. Over the years I had learnt to block in out but I heard something that caught my attention- my name.

"And I heard that Cammie totally freaked out after those Circle spies broke in." Tina gossipped loudly. Did she not see me sitting just a few seats away from her? "Apparently those Circle of Cavan people threatened to kill Zach if Cammie didn't spill all the secrets of our training. It's not surprising really, I mean, have you seen us in action? We're amazing. Anyway, Cammie was about to reveal everything, but Abby came in and-"  
"Oh stop making up stupid lies and mind your own business, Tina!" I yelled hotly, storming out of the cafeteria. The whole room was silent except for my friends yelling after me. I sped up my pace to a sprint, running down random hallway after random hallway, not really paying attention to where I was going. Bex was such a fast runner she was catching up to me- so I ducked into one of my hidden passageways. I shut the wall behind me, and turned around to keep of going, but I slammed into Zach.

"Cammie what are you-mm?" He never got to finish his sentence because I clapped my hand over his mouth to stop him from talking.

Zach looked at me quizzically, but stayed silent. After a few moments I could hear.

"Damn! We lost her." That was Bex- I could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"She's probably gone into one of her tunnels or something." Liz said knowingly. I wondered if she knew I was right behind this wall or not.

"God, I am going to _kill_ Tina!" Bex groaned in frustration.

"Well, I heard that she has to take extra fighting training in the P and E barn, because she needs to raise her fighting level." Macey said grimly.

"Great." I could hear Bex cracking her knuckles through the walls. "I'm going to knock her so hard she's not going to wake up until next week."

"Maybe we should keep you away from Tina." Liz said worriedly. I exhaled with relief when I heard their receding footsteps.

"Cammie, what's going on?" Zach asked patiently, taking my hand away from his mouth.

"Tina w-was saying some stuff and it was just so-"

"Yeah, it's Tina, I got it." Zach nodded.

"But the things she accused me of nearly doing! After what the Circle did to my family, to me- my father! How she could even say those thing is just-!" I broke down sobbing on Zach's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me, whispering comforting things in my ear for ten minutes while I finished crying.

When I stopped crying I pushed looked up at Zach, wiping away the rest of the tears from my cheek. "I got your shirt wet." I sniffed miserably.

Zach chuckled. "That's what you're worried about?" He hugged me, but after a second he pushed me away. His face was serious. "Cammie, about before, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Forget about it." I told him. "We were both tired, we weren't thinking straight. I had no right to get mad at you."

"You did have a right to get mad at me." Zach said seriously. God, he had gorgeous eyes. "And I should be begging for you to forgive me."

"You don't need to beg. God, can we please just forget last night ever happened?"

Zach nodded. "I wish it hadn't happened. That- person in there- my _brother_."

"About that- look, you are one of the few people I trust, so whatever you say, I'll listen to it. If you think he's suspicious, then I think he's suspicious too."

"You are just amazing. And I don't deserve you." Zach looked at me in wonderment. The next thing I knew, he was kissing me. And everything, in our little moment, was perfect.


	6. It Doesn't Even Hurt

**Even though the story is completed, please review as I still want to hear your opinion :) Also, if you're liking the story, feel free to give it a favourite and once you've finished reading it, check out the sequel, Hidden in Plain Sight.**

"_Knocked o-ver!_" Bex said gleefully, imitating Gru from _Despicable Me_. That was the sight that met me as I stepped into the Optional Combat Training, which Mr Solomon was supervising.

"All right," Mr Solomon was biting his lip to stop himself from smiling. "That's 9-0 to Rebecca. Tina, do you want to continue?"

Tina shook her head, standing up to walk away from the fighting mats. She looked…. _Deflated _was the only way to describe it.

"You didn't have to do that for me, Bex." I leaned in and whispered to my friend in Farsi.

"Yes, I did." She replied, shrugging. "Just one girl watching out for another girl's back. Besides, it was fun. Even Liz got two points before she decided she was happier behind a desk and left to do something…"

"Where were you?" Macey asked, joining in our conversation but talking in Korean so it was harder for someone to understand our conversation.

"You were right; I was in one of my secret passages." I smiled, letting them know I had heard their conversation.

"I _thought _I smelled your perfume!" Macey exclaimed, coming in and hugging me. Bex joined in and we stayed like that until Mr Solomon cleared his throat at us.

"Ms Morgan, will you be fighting?" He asked. I glanced at Tina. Her right cheek was red and her knuckles were looking battered- I was feeling just a teensy bit sorry for her.

"Erm, I think I'll pass." I shook my head. I may be annoyed with Tina, but I wasn't cruel.

"All right, then," Mr Solomon did look a bit disappointed- or was that just a trick of the light? He leaned in to tell me quietly, "And, please, when you tell Ms Baxter, Ms McHenry and Ms Sutton of last night's events, be discreet?"

"Sure thing." I smiled, relieved; him saying that was as good as giving me permission. I turned back to Macey and Bex. "You guys wanna find Liz and go back to our room?" I hinted.

Me and Macey went to look for Liz, Bex checked our room for any possible bugs- better safe than sorry. We found Liz in the lab, looking at a slide with something blue smeared on it with no microscope. She was wearing thick rimmed glasses that made her eyes look huge.

"Ooh, those are cute." Macey said at the same time I said "You don't wear glasses."

"Yes they are, and no I don't." Liz replied absentmindedly.

"Hey, Liz? I know I'm no genius, but aren't you supposed to use a microscope?" I asked.

"No, these are just a way to pass the time- they're intensify the image like a microscope would, but its hands free." Liz told me, handing me the glasses so I could see for myself. "The only problem is they give me a headache after a while… I'm going to have to work on that."

"Mm…speaking of working on stuff… we need to talk," Macey raised her eyebrows objectively. "And the happenings of last night _might _just happen to crop up."

Liz got the hint. We left to go to our room with an _oopsy daisy_ from Liz- who had knocked over the coat stand by accident- and the eyes of pretty much everybody staring at us. This annoyed Macey.

Stopping suddenly in the middle of the hallway, she gave everybody the evil eye and asked, "I'm sorry, is there something interesting on Cammie's face? I don't think so, which gives you no reason to stare. Mind your own business. _Andiamo!"_

Everybody scuttled away, awkwardly eyeing the portraits, or the walls, not wanting to make eye contact with me or my friends. I breathed a sigh of relief. These past couple of days were stressful; I didn't need everybody gawking at me just to add more pressure. At that moment, I wondered how Zach was. Then I remembered when he kissed me.

"Cammie, are you OK?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You have a weird look on your face."

"Do I?" I asked, smiling like a goof again. Macey gasped.

"I know that look!" She exclaimed. "Liz, do you remember the day when the Blackthorne boys left Gallagher and Zach and Cammie… you know."  
"Buh buh buh buh buh!" I said loudly to shut Macey up. "Later!" I promised.

And one hour later, I had finished telling the events of the last two days. Liz, Macey, and even Bex, were shocked into silence. It was deadly quiet. Until…

_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK!_

"Is it just me, or is this becoming a regular thing now?" Bex asked at the same time Macey said, "Jeez, do we need to update our security system."

My heart was pounding. _Hide. Run. Just get away. _Sam had warned me. And the possibility of another long-lost brother breaking in was in between _Not likely _and _Never going to happen_.

I grabbed the doorknob, swung the door open, and ran towards the familiar painted face of Victoria Gallagher. The portrait swung open and almost hit me. Zach came bursting out, his face panic-stricken.

"CAMMIE, RUN!" He bellowed, grabbing me and pushing me down the corridor. I looked behind me just in time to see a man dressed in black come out of the portrait behind Zach. He was holding a gun. It was aimed at me.

Zach saw this too, and he put himself behind me, to protect me. Too late.

Two gunshots sounded, and red pain ripped through me like a freight train. I fell down, and Zach turned me over. My vision swam in and out of focus, as did my hearing.

Zach said something I couldn't hear. "Cammie, I said can you hear me?" Zach repeated. This time I heard him, but my ears were ringing. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone tackle the man in black. It looked like Zach, but it couldn't be, because Zach was right here next to me.

The man in black fought back, stronger, and managed to get away. The Zach-looking boy considered running after him, but was stopped by the actual Zach calling to him. The pain wasn't so obvious anymore. Maybe I had gotten used to it.  
"Don't. Abby or someone will catch him." Zach said. "Sam, come here and help me with Cammie."

Sam was here? Helping me?

"Jeez, that's a lot of blood." Sam remarked. I could feel sticky warmth spreading around my collar, and near my tummy, spreading through my shirt.

"Guys, it's ok." I whispered. "It doesn't even hurt anymore."

Zach's face was the last thing I saw.


	7. Poison

**Even though the story is completed please still review! :)**

**Chapter 6**

I don't know when I woke up. I was just unconscious, and then I wasn't. So I opened my eyes. And I could see Zach, with his head on the mattress of my bed. My finger twitched, and he instantly woke up, lifting his head so I could see a needle stuck in my hand, connected to a thin, clear tube.

"You're awake," Zach breathed in relief. His hair was tousled, and it looked cute on him.

"Can I ask what happened or would it be too cliché?" I asked. My throat felt like it was on fire when I spoke, and my voice was hoarse. Zach noticed this, and immediately took a cup of water from my bedside table and lightly tipped water into my mouth. The water coursed smoothly down my throat, wiping away all traces of the sandpaper feeling at the back of my throat. "Thank you."

"What happened was that the Circle broke in and attacked- attacked you." Zach filled me in, and as he did, I remembered the events of last night. The blind panic. Zach yelling at me to run. Pure white-hot pain ripping through me. I glanced down at myself, only to see standard hospital clothes. They didn't belong to Gallagher Academy. My heart beat fast. I looked around, and saw that I wasn't in Gallagher. I forgot about Zach, and about keeping calm.

I struggled. What if Zach's mother had come? What if we were prisoners? I ripped the tube out of my arm, and within seconds blood covered my hand.  
"Cammie, what are you doing?" Zach exclaimed, trying to restrain me. Why was he trying to keep me here?! In my panic, I half slapped half punched him, the blood from my hand smearing across his face. I felt a rip in my shoulder, then the same pain I felt last night. Sticky warmth was spreading across my shoulder.

Zach pressed a little red button by my bedside, and within seconds a strange woman and Aunt Abby came in. Zach pinched the bridge of his nose, stopping a nose bleed from when I'd hit him.

"Dammit! Cammie, calm down!" Abby ordered. The heart rate monitor beeped erratically. "Dammit. We're going to have to sedate her." The nurse nodded, her curt black bob wobbling around her chin.

"Why are you on their side?!" I screamed, clawing at her arms as she held me down.

"Cammie, try and listen, and _remember_ what I'm going to say." Abby said. The nurse quickly injected me with tranquilizer, and it was enough to instantly render me paralysed, but not enough to put me under. I couldn't move, I had to listen to Abby, but my heart was still racing. My rapid heartbeat must have been what spread the tranquilizer round my body so fast.

"We found traces of what we think is brainwashing serum in the bullets. They weren't just shooting to kill. Just in case that didn't work, they wanted to brainwash you. Turn you against us." Abby told me, staring into my eyes to make sure I understood. "Do you believe me?"

I didn't believe her, but I couldn't shake my head. Abby sighed. "I probably wouldn't either. But you're going to have to. And you're going to have to fight it. Squirt, they hacked our medical supplies drugs and put doses of poison in the antibiotics. See?" She turned my head to the left so I could see Sam on a hospital bed. He had various tubes stuck into veins, attached to big bags of clear liquids. I could read the writing on the side of the bags. _Pain sedative_, and _Anti-poison_, and _Antibiotic_. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it, but Abby had to be telling the truth.

The Circle had tried to kill me and brainwash me. Abby turned my head back. "Gallagher has been compromised. Sam was telling the truth. I'm sorry, kiddo, we should have put you in a safe house the moment Sam arrived." I could see her eyes brimming with tears, which, considering it was my tough-as-nails Aunt Abby, was saying something. "But don't worry, Squirt. We're going to take care of you now. Nurse, give her some more sedative. Zach, let's take a look at that nose."

And once again, Zach's face was the last thing I saw.

I woke up suddenly because somewhere in the cosy dreamless darkness that makes unconsciousness, my brain remembered that it wasn't safe in the dark. That it needed to wake up and get away. So I woke up.

And someone was watching over me.

A hand clamped down over my mouth to stop me from yelling, but I opened my mouth and clamped my teeth down hard on soft flesh.

"Ow! Jesus, Cammie, I just didn't want you bringing the entire CIA down on this room by shouting!" Said a voice that I recognised belonged to Sam Goode, the boy I should have listened to. Sam pulled his hand away. As my eyes got used to the dark, I could make out his chiselled face and straight eyebrows and green eyes that made him look like Zach. Or, that I guess, made Zach look like him.

"I should have listened to you." I whispered, flinching when my voice trembled.

"Yes, probably." Sam said softly. "But what if they were expecting you to run away? Where would we be then?"

"Why are you helping me?" I asked. Sam had to think about this for a minute.

"The Circle killed my father too," He said thoughtfully. "In one way or another… And I hear they killed your father too. So it seems we have something in common. And ever since I was 12 and I found out Zach existed, I have been begging my father to go and get him. And he refused, because even though he wanted to, he wouldn't risk it to keep me alive. I was stubborn. I went for him myself and when I came back…"  
Sam didn't have to go on. I knew what happened when he came back.

"I'm sorry." I said, and I meant it. "But why did you want to help a brother you never met?"

"Because I knew what our mother was like."

"How?" I pressed, wanting to know every detail. He simply pointed at himself, and said, "I'm a spy."

I was both amused and slightly creeped out by how much he and Zach were alike. We both said nothing for a while. Then I realised I had one more question that was bugging me-

"What happened to you? Why were you sedated?"

"Same thing that happened to you. They came and put the serum in my antibiotic fluid bag, and it was like I was fighting with myself. I just lost it. One side of me knew how much I hated the Circle, and one side thought that everybody else was talking nonsense, it was Gallagher that were the enemies."

"That's what happened to me .When Abby was talking to me, it made no sense. I could understand her, but at the same time I couldn't. It was like I was the only one making sense." I confessed, relieved to be sharing this with someone, _anyone_.

"And then, they put some antibiotics and sedative in me, but they didn't realise that it had been poisoned until…" Sam trailed off.

"Until?" I pressed urgently. "Until?"

"You don't know?" Sam asked mysteriously. "You _died_, Cammie. Twice. After you got shot, you told me and Zach that it was OK, you weren't hurting anymore, and then you died. Only for a minute until you were resuscitated. But then, after they put the poisoned stuff in you to help with your bullet wounds, you started convulsing.

"You died again, and then I started convulsing. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I woke up a few hours later screaming that Gallagher couldn't hold me prisoner, that I would kill them. And now here we are. Zach fell asleep, so I watched over you for him." He jerked his chin to my right, where Zach was sleeping on a couch/bed for visitors.

"He'd been awake 16 hours straight, from as far as I can tell." Sam added.

I didn't really know what to think. My head was overloaded with emotions, thoughts, feelings.

Sam eventually went back to his own bed, and inserted the needles back into his arms. He was asleep within minutes. My bag of various fluids was empty. I expected a nurse or someone would come soon to change them.

Until then, I had nothing but the dim bluish-black light of the hospital room and the sound of Zach and Sam's breathing as company.

"Cammie?" Zach whispered.

"Yeah?" I was surprised to hear his voice.

"Nothing. Just checking that you were all right."

"I didn't wake you did I?"

"No. I can't seem to sleep for more than an hour at a time." Zach told me.

"Zach?" I murmured.

"Mhmm?"

"What are we going to do… about all this?"

"We're going to find out why the Circle are doing this. We're going to fight back." Zach answered. "We're going to be spies."


	8. Let's Go For A Walk

**Even though the story is completed please still review ! :)**

I clenched my teeth together in pain. Bex warily raised an eyebrow at me.

"You don't have to be tough, I know it hurts." She told me.

"Thank G- Ow, ow, ow!" I hissed. Bex winced, even though she wasn't the one in pain.

We were doing arm stretches, to help me with my almost healed bullet wound. The bullet had gone straight through my shoulder, and new skin and muscle had started to form there. Abby said that I needed to do the arm exercises, but they hurt like hell.

Bex dropped my arm. "I think that's enough pain for today." She said, English accent coming through like it did when she was around me, or when she was distressed.

"Great. Now what?" I said half-heartedly. Nowadays my schedule included morphine drips, lunch, naps, arm exercises, and more morphine. At least they had moved off the sedative.

"Now, we go outside. Abby's orders." Bex informed me. I brightened up. I hadn't been outside and the hospital air was too… medicine-y. "Don't get too excited. There's 8 Marines and 5 MI7, and let's not forget to mention the 2 trained assassins standing guard."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, it's raining." Bex said, picking up my coat and helping me into it.

"I don't mind." I smiled. I put on my boots that Abby had bought over from Gallagher over my hospital pyjamas. They –the pyjamas, not the boots- were thin and pale blue, and they wouldn't keep me warm but I wanted to feel the cold. The hospital was warm, and the bed sheets were really thick. I had had enough of heat.

When me and Bex got outside, Bex supporting me as I was still a bit shaky, we were met by a tall, dark skinned marine with a gun strapped across his chest.

"Do you really need that?" I asked, eyeing the gun warily.

"I can assure you Miss Morgan, its better I have it." He told me in a low gravelly voice.

"Cammie." I corrected, out of habit. "Can I know your name? You know, just in case?"

"Alistair Finch." He replied. I was amazed. The Marines must have trained him up really well, because his biceps were massive. If he didn't have the gun, I would feel safe, but since he did have the gun, I was on edge.  
I wasn't going to enjoy this walk as much as I hoped.

Alistair was perfectly nice, letting me and Bex talk without interrupting us. He even steadied me when I tripped over some pebbles on the ground, even though Bex was already there. I told myself he was just doing his job, but something felt off.

The walkie-talkie Alistair had on the waistband of his camouflage uniform crackled, checking up on us.

"Finch, come in. What's your status?"

"Control, this is Finch, we're currently 10-2. Over."

"Roger that. Over and out."

Me and Bex listened, and then shared a secret smile. "You win." I whispered to Bex. We had a bet that on walkie-talkies, people don't really use 'roger that' and 'over and out' or call people by their last names, or even use numbers as identification. Bex said that they did, I said that they didn't. It was a silly $1 bet, but it now provided a sense of comfort.

"Hey, what's 10-2?" I asked curiously.

"2 is the area code- we're in the Grid 2 of 4 secure sections, and 10 is the appliance code we're using for safe and secure." Alistair replied.

"So what would be the appliance code for In Danger?"

"If we were in danger in Grid 2, I would have said that we were 7-2." Alistair said while scanning the surrounding area. Again. Then he grabbed his walkie and said, "Control, this is Finch. Who do we have marking Grid 2?"

"Finch this is Control, we have Logan and Clancy around the perimeter, and Radford on the roof of the hospital. Over."

"Logan, Clancy, Radford. This is Finch. I'm on the edge of Grid 2; do you see any movement around us?"

"Finch this is Radford, I'm looking in on it. So far nothing." And then, "This is Logan. Clancy and I don't see anything; can you pinpoint your location?"

"Grid 2, around 20 metres from the left edge of Grid 3."

"OK, we'll check it out. I'll let you know if we find anything. Over."

"What's that for?" Bex asked sharply.

"Just a precaution." Alistair reassured.

"Don't give me 'just a precaution'- I can tell when someone's lying." Bex crossed her arms over her chest. Alistair sighed.

"I thought I saw something. But there's nothing there, so it's just a precaution." He was constantly scanning our surrounding areas. He almost didn't notice it when the man came out of the surrounding forest 10 metres away from us and grabbed Bex.

Alistair had a gun pointed on him, and I could see on the roof, so did one of the trained assassins.

"Put that gun down." The man said calmly. "I only want to talk." He had Bex round the neck in a Chinese Strangle Hold. If he squeezed his arms ever so slightly, Bex would be unconscious in less than 30 seconds.

"Don't hurt the girl or you will be dead." Alistair warned.

"I came to deliver a message." The man ignored Alistair completely, and didn't let Bex go. Bex wasn't having any of that. She reached up with her right hand, and around with her left hand, grabbing him in a Stanik Release Grab and twisting his body away from her, flipping him onto his back. He landed with a dull thud, and in half a second, Alistair's gun was on him.

I finally felt safer with the gun around. "Don't move." Alistair warned. Again, the man didn't listen, and tried to get up. Gunshots flew around him, and grass flew up from the impact of bullets. It wasn't from Alistair's gun.

Of course, if you're a trained assassin, your aim if precise within centimetres, millimetres even. I looked up out of curiosity more than anything, onto the roof of the hospital, where I could see a tallish male dressed all in black, holding a gun that was pointed at our newly captured hostage. When the assassin moved the gun away from his face, my heart skipped a beat.

I knew who that was.

It was Zach.


	9. Tell the Truth Please

**Even if the story is completed please still review :)**

I felt really nauseous now. Bex had to help me walk back to the hospital, to get me to safety while Alistair and the two marines in the forest- Logan and Clancy- escorted the attacker… somewhere. I don't know where.

"Cammie, are you OK?" Bex whispered in Romanian. "You look like you're going to throw up."

"Look on the roof." Was the only thing I said. Bex subtly flipped her hair over her shoulder to look up. I heard her give a small gasp.

"Is that… Zach?" She asked carefully. I simply nodded.

I shouldn't be so shocked by this. I knew Blackthorne was training their students to be assassins, but I never expected Zach to be one of the assassins ready to kill anyone who tried to hurt me.

I couldn't imagine Zach killing anyone. But at the same time, I could.

I was going to throw up.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Bex asked. While I was trying to keep my food down, Bex had somehow steered me into my bathroom. I shook my head as a _no._

I peeled off my boots and coat, shaking my hospital top to try and cool myself down. I stepped into the bathroom, which had cold cream tiles on the floor and walls. I locked the door behind me, and then turned around to put my hands on the rim of the sink. To my left, there was a toilet, and beyond that a shower.

_Breathe, Cammie. Just breathe._ I was shaking, forcing myself to breathe deeply. I looked at myself in the mirror, and was shocked by what I saw. My hair had grown out again, paler than before. I used to be careful about putting my hair up, otherwise I would get chastised by Macey, but now it was falling out of its bun, strands falling around my face and making me look… Messy. Like I had no control over anything.

Which, really, I didn't anymore.

I turned the tap on to the coldest possible setting, and scooped freezing water onto my face and arms. I felt better.  
"See, Cam. You're not gonna throw up." I whispered fiercely. I turned around and unlocked the door, but then nausea rolled over me again, stronger this time. My stomach clenched and curled, and before I knew it, I was coughing over the toilet, puking.

The door handle rattled behind me, but since the door was so close to the toilet, I weighed my leg against it to stop Bex from getting in.

When I was done, I just sat there.

I was done throwing up, of that I was sure. But I still felt really shaky. I wasn't certain if my legs would support me.

But I had to try. Using the flusher as a support, I stood up unsteadily. I flushed the toilet and then turned around to the sink. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't done a good job of throwing up neatly in the toilet. I carefully took off my shirt and bottoms, until I was just in my underwear. Then I brushed my teeth, slowly and mechanically.

Up, down, up, down. Side to side. Rinse. Spit. I pulled my hair back into a fresh ponytail, away from my face. Before I felt too hot. Now I felt too cold. The door opened behind me, and it wasn't Bex who poked her head through. It was Abby.

"Oh, Squirt. You OK?" She asked. I nodded, even though I wasn't. I sidestepped the toilet and padded out into my room barefoot. Bex sat on my bed, but moved aside so I could lie down. I didn't feel like lying down though. I merely sat and stared at the floor. Bex went to clean up the bathroom. She didn't need to though. Her empty space on the bed was filled by Abby.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" She asked. In all my years, I had never known Abby to be compassionate. Loving, yes, but she would love me silently. Most of the time she would just tell me to suck it up and be tough. She'd changed.  
"Five Marines, 8 MI7 and 2 trained assassins." I turned to face Abby and repeated the list Bex had given me of people protecting me on my walk. "One of those trained assassins was Zach?" It was more a question than a statement.

Abby refused to look at me, but did what I did and stared at the floor. "Cammie, you do know that at Blackthorne… look, maybe the person you should be talking to about this is Zach."

"I probably will. What are they doing to the guy that grabbed Bex?" I asked.

"Preparing him for an interrogation." Abby answered truthfully. "Injecting him with truth serum and hooking him up to a polygraph as we speak."

"Oh." Was all I said. I remember in my second year at Gallagher, when I was a sophomore, I had to go and do debriefing, where a man read a polygraph chart as I spoke to see if I was telling the truth. I had told Polygraph Guy he didn't need the charts. They didn't train Gallagher Girls how to lie convincingly until our junior years.

They hadn't given me truth serum then, but I suppose this case was different. This man was a trained spy. "What room is he in?" I questioned.

"Cammie I-"Abby started.

"What. Room?" I interrupted sharply. "I have the right to know."  
"317. Lower Levels." Abby sighed, knowing I was right. Just then, Bex emerged from the bathroom.

"Let's go then." She said, giving me some new clothes. These were my own clothes this time; a pale blue T-shirt and cotton shorts.

The journey to room 317 was probably short, but for me and Bex it took longer, since we pulled what Bex called "A Cammie" and snuck around so that no-one saw us. Just in case someone tried to stop us. It turns out the whole Lower Levels was dedicated to being a spy. There were labs, interrogation rooms, even libraries. But room 317 was an interrogation room/polygraph room/lab/viewing area. There was a simple interrogation room with a microphone and a polygraph nailed to a simple table, which was also nailed to the ground. There were 2 simple chairs. And then there was a 1 way mirror, behind which was the viewing area.

It was a dark room illuminated only by a couple of computer screens. In the room was Alistair, a stranger, and Zach. Abby was also already there. She got there faster, because obviously she didn't creep around.

I went into the room and stood tersely at the back of the room. Nobody said anything to me or Bex.

"OK, please start by telling me your full name and date of birth." In the interrogation room a short man with spectacles was simultaneously watching the lie detector and the man he was interrogating.

"David Ford. 30 April 1978." The man said. Spectacles frowned at the polygraph.

"Tell the truth please." He said.

Ford smirked. "Damn, I thought I was gonna get away with that one. This is a Lie Detector version 302, isn't it? Name's Sylvan Ford." Only now did I notice his southern accent. Spectacles looked at his charts again.

"OK, then Mr Ford, where were you born?"

"Kentucky, born and raised."

"And when you came here why did you attack the girl?"

"The gir- oh, you mean Rebecca Baxter?" Beside me, Bex stiffened. Polygraph guy didn't answer, so Ford smiled again. "I didn't attack her. I simply held her in a lock so no-one would shoot at me before I delivered my message. Of course, she ruined that plan when she got out of it, and damn, let me tell you there's not many a person, much less a girl, who can get out of my Chinese Strangle Holds."

"What is your envolvment with the Circle of Cavan?" Poly-specs asked. Sylvan Ford started answering his questions. I wasn't really interested, and to be honest I didn't know if I wanted to know. I leaned forward and tapped Zach on his shoulder. When he turned around, I motioned for him to follow him. I creeped out of the room soundlessly- one of the advantages of being the Chameleon- and my vision was filled with bright patches of colour, while my eyes got used to the sudden brightness.

"What's up?" Zach asked casually.  
"What's up?" I repeated, annoyed. "What do you mean what's up?"

"Well, you obviously wanted to talk to me about something, and since Liz hasn't come up with headphones that project your thoughts, I don't know what you want to talk about." Zach frowned. I couldn't tear my eyes away from where his hair started to flop onto his forehead. He needed a haircut, and I really badly wanted to sweep his hair off his face because he looked too cute like this.

_Stop looking at his hair, Cam._ "Bex told me there were two trained assassins on the roof. Why were you there, holding a gun? You're not an as-…" I couldn't bring myself to call Zach _that._

"Cam, you know Blackthorne trains us to be spies as well as assassins?"

"Yeah, but you came to Gallagher halfway through your third year at Blackthorne." I said feebly. Zach stepped closer.

"We're qualified assassins and spies within the first 2 years."  
"What about the other 2 years at Blackthorne?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer. Zach looked away. _Oh._

"Cam," Zach whispered.  
"Of course. Silly Cammie." I laughed incredulously. "You needed field experience."

My stomach curdled. Just then, Abby poked her head round the door.

"Cam, we need to talk." She noticed me and Zach standing awkwardly, and gave Zach a strange look. Without saying another word. As I walked into the room, I silently made a list in my head.

**Some of the Worst Things that have Ever Happened to Me**

**A list by Cameron Morgan.**

**The day I found out my dad wasn't coming home.**

**The day Grandpa Morgan had a heart attack in front of me.**

**The day I got taken by the Circle of Cavan.**

**The day I found my dad's grave.**

**They day I realised Zach may have actually killed people.**

"-think we should do it," Polygraph man said.

"Warren, we've talked about this. It's not your decision, its Cammie's," Abby hissed.

"What's my decision?" I asked. Abby looked at me guiltily. Polygraph guy- Warren- ignored me completely.

"He said he wouldn't say anything else unless he was saying it to _her_, and he wasn't lying." Warren argued. "This is beyond her now."

"Oh, shut up!" Bex complained, her accent heavily English.

"Warren, don't make me hit you." Alistair joined in. "It's not our decision."

"What's not your decision?" I persisted.

Everybody turned to look at me. A man sitting at the computer turned the screen towards me so I could see the screen and hit play.

It was CCTV recording of the interrogation room.

"You said you came to deliver a message," Warren was saying to Sylvan Ford. "What was the message?"  
Ford didn't say anything. "Why did you volunteer to send the message?" Warren pushed. "Why? You knew the risks. What was the message?"  
"I'm not going to say anything else," Sylvan finally spoke. He looked over his shoulder, directly at the camera. "Unless I'm saying it to Cameron Morgan herself."


	10. 3 For 2

**Even though the story is over please still review :)**

"You don't have to do it!" Abby blurted out.

"I want to," I said before it even registered in my mind what I was saying. I didn't really want to as much as I _had _to.

"Well, thank God!" Warren exclaimed, pushing his spectacles up his nose. Alistair thumped the back of Warrens head with the up-side of his hand. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"You're happy the girl's going to go in and talk to a representative of the Circle, Warren. I did say don't make me hit you." Alistair warned.

"Sorry," Warren mumbled, not really sounding that sorry at all.

"I'm going to go and talk to him," I raised an eyebrow. "With or without anyone's approval."

"Fine." Abby said. "Let's go."

I walked out of the viewing room, and past Zach, who was still out in the hall.

"What're you doing?" Zach grabbed my arm.

"Doing what I have to do," I said determinedly. I stepped into the interrogation room.

Sylvan Ford's head snapped up to look at who came in, his face pleasantly surprised.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this a nice surprise?" He asked rhetorically. Abby followed my into the room, holding a pair of handcuffs.

"Don't get too excited." Abby warned. "Make one move I don't like and you'll regret it."

"Is this really necessary?" Sylvan Ford looked at Abby appreciatively as she tightened a second pair of handcuffs over his wrist. Abby made a disgusted noise, whether it was because Ford was looking at her or because she was disgusted at his mild tone, as if he didn't realise how dangerous he was to me.

Sylvan sniffed the air mildly. "I like your shampoo. Smells like roses." He teased. Abby whispered to me, "Say "out" at any time, and we'll be done with him." She handed me a small microchip to put in my ear, so she could talk to me. I gave her a small nod, putting the receiver in my ear.

I sat down in the plastic chair nailed to the floor. Sylvan said nothing, but smiled at me knowingly.

"Why didn't you kill me?" I burst out, unable to contain the question anymore.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, why didn't you kill me?" I repeated. "You had the chance. But you didn't."

"Do you really think that all the Circle does is kill people?" Sylvan asked, and in his Southern accent it actually sounded like a ridiculous notion that the Circle would kill people.

"Yes. Now stop evading the question." My voice trembled slightly, and I hoped Sylvan didn't notice.

"Because," Ford sighed. "I wasn't sent to kill you, I was sent to give you a message."

"_Ask him what the message is," _Abby's voice whispered in my ear.

"What was the message?"

"Dear Cammie, I've changed my mind." Sylvan said, sarcastically adding, "Hope to see you soon, love from Stephen."

"Steven Cavan?" I exclaimed.

"Well, what other Stephens do you know?"

Well, there's Dr Steve, who turned out to be in the Circle, but I doubt that was him who sent the message.

"Changed his mind about what?"

"Killing you." Sylvan said simply. His blue eyes stared into mine until I had to look away.

"_Remember you can say out any time." _Abby told me tightly. I glanced briefly towards the one sided mirror, only seeing mine and Ford's reflection, but knowing Alistair, Abby and Bex were there. It comforted me.

Until I noticed that Sylvan Ford noticed me looking at the mirror.

"What's she telling you?" Sylvan asked. "Mm, let me tell you, we don't get women, even spies, who have as much backbone as that woman does." He smiled again, that mischievous, relaxed cat, elegant smile only Southern boys have.

_She's my aunt, _I wanted to say, shocked to hear someone talking that way about Abby. I didn't say anything though. Instead I went back onto the subject of the message from Stephen Cavan.

"What do you mean; he's changed his mind about killing me?" I asked. I was questioning so much these days it was tiring.

"Ever since he shot you that night at Gallagher, he found out some new information." Ford explained, leaning forward. His movement made me tense up. "And he was actually pleasantly surprised when you survived- And when you didn't become a brainwashed idiot."

I made a motion for him to continue. "He discovered it's not in his best interest for you to be dead."

"So? Why send a message? What did you mean, 'Hope to see you soon?" I suddenly went really cold. A violent shiver made itself down my spine.

I now noticed Sylvan's features. Yes, I had seen his sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, stubble and mild expression before. But now they were changed. There was a glint in his eyes. I swear for a few seconds my heart stopped beating.

_"Cammie…" _Abby's voice was uncertain.

"I meant what I said. He hopes to see you soon." Sylvan's eyes flashed. "Very soon."

"CAMMIE GET OUT!" Abby yelled both in my ear and from the interrogation room. Time slowed down. I turned to my right and I could see into the interrogation room. Abby, pounding on the glass, Alistair and Bex running out the door, Warren and another computer genius frantically typing on a computer.

I turned back. The wall behind us was exploding, being knocked down. We were underground, but not underground enough that we couldn't get out easily in case of emergency. This worked to our disadvantage now.

Time sped up again. Zach bursting into the room, grabbing me and covering me just as the people in masks came in the room. One freed Sylvan, two went to take out Alistair and Bex, and the others went for me and Zach. I was overcome with fear.

My mind raced with images. Memories.

When I got caught by the Circle. Being tied and gagged, having a bag thrown over my head and knocked unconscious. Waking up in darkness. Being tortured. Finding my father's grave.

I couldn't go through that again. I _won't _go through that again- I refuse.

But it was too late.

"He wasn't part of the job description!" A woman's voice hissed the slender figure on the right pointing to Zach.

"There's no time now, get him too!" A male voice growled back.

"Three for two deal." Sylvan laughed, calling to his fellow Circle members. Three for two? What did they mean?

_NO. _I didn't hear Zach say it as much as I saw him say it. He pulled me away, trying to get away.

He tried.

But he was no match for the combined force of the Circle.


	11. Anniversary

**Chapter 10 of Cammie's story. Please tell me what you think of it through the reviews! If you review, I promise to check out and review some of your stories!**

"Please," I whispered. "Leave me alone."

I didn't speak loud enough. Nobody heard me. Nobody said anything. I tried to open my eyes. They felt so heavy. They had given me heavy sedative that made me feel like rubber. Very heavy rubber. I don't know how long I waited, but the sedative was slowly wearing off.

I tried opening my eyes again. It was darkish. There was a dim light, but it didn't help. I tried to keep my eyes open until I could get used to the darkness. I looked to my left. Zach was strapped to a bed, unconscious.

I looked to my right. Zach was sitting on a padded chair nailed to the floor of the van.

But it wasn't Zach- it was Sam.

He didn't notice me looking at him. He was drinking what smelled like forest fruit tea- a smell I recognised because Bex liked to drink it all the time- and talking to a man on an iPad.

"For the last time, Stephen, I'm not going to help you!" Sam exclaimed. So they took him too. At least he wasn't co-operating with the Circle.

"You will eventually, it's the easier way," Stephen Cavan replied. The iPad was tilted in a way that made the colour hues go funny, so I couldn't see what he looked like. Sam took another sip of tea.

"I doubt that." Sam scoffed.

_Sam, _I mouthed. I couldn't get my tongue to form the words. I wanted to ask him to help me.

I didn't know why he wasn't tied up and drugged. Maybe they said they would hurt Zach if he did anything.

"Sam, how long have I known you?" Stephen asked.

"Not very long at all." Sam's reply was curt, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. Stephen laughed.

"My point is, even though I don't know you that well, I know you _will_ want to help me." Stephen Cavan paused for effect. "You know it's for the best."

"And why is that?"

"Because, if I don't kill Cammie, your precious brother won't do something rash, but if he does, he dies and so do you."

"I'm still not convinced. You wouldn't really kill an 18 year old girl just because you felt like it, would you?" Sam challenged.

"Try me." Stephen said dangerously. "Because I would. But at the same time, I am quite looking forward to not kill Cameron Morgan. After all, we do have a history, even if she may not remember most of it." He chuckled darkly.

"Sure. We'll see when the time comes?"

"Yeah, whatever. By the way, I meant to congratulate you. Tomorrow is 3 years since you joined—"

"Cammie?! Since when have you been awake?" Sam had seen me looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Joined what?" I asked, panic rising as my voice finally returned to me. Sam didn't answer. "Joined what, Sam?!"

He hadn't hung up on Stephen. He could hear me. He started chuckling, but it soon escalated into a laugh. Sam rushed to inject me with sedative, but not before I heard Stephen talk again.

"Honestly, Sam. You haven't told her yet?" He asked, gasping for air. "My dear Cammie, tomorrow is three years since he joined the Circle."


	12. That's Not Him

**Ahh sorry it took so long to upload, I had a bit of writer's block, ;) but enjoy!**

**Chapter 11**

I had been here 8 days. That's 192 hours. That's 11520 minutes. And all of those minutes, I've been poked and prodded, moved, tied up, questioned and injected. All of those minutes I've been away from Zach. I hear the members of the Circle talking. He's putting up a hell of a fight. He tried to escape 3 times already.

All of those times failed because he always stopped to try and rescue me.

He never even made it to inside my room.

All 192 hours that I've been here (apart from the ones when I've been unconscious) I keep thinking about Sam. About how I wish Liz could invent something that turns back time so I could tell myself NOT to trust Sam.

I can't believe I was such an idiot. Of course he's in the Circle. How else would he know they wanted me dead? Why else would he have turned up at Gallagher while Zach was there?

I pondered these questions silently, staring up at my white ceiling. I had figured out there was 56 rectangular pieces making the ceiling in a 7 by 8 layout. I hadn't checked yet if any of my ceiling pieces were loose. They probably weren't.

Somebody opened my door. Against the bright light of the hall, I couldn't see who it was; I could only see their dark outline.

"Please leave me alone." I whispered groggily. They had taken some blood from me, and when I struggled they gave me sedative. My eyelids drooped dangerously low over my eyes, and I was afraid if I closed them I wouldn't be able to open them.

"I just wanted to talk to you," A male voice said huskily. They came closer and sat by my bed. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Zach. I shifted my hands, trying to get closer to him. I wanted to be closer to him, but I wasn't allowed. They had tied me down to the bed in a Constrictor Knot so I couldn't get away. Still, I was just so happy to see Zach I wasn't even going to question how he managed to get here.

"What's wrong with your voice?" I asked.

"Sore throat," He explained. "I've been doing a lot of shouting recently."

We didn't say anything for a bit. "I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me." Zach confessed.

"Why wouldn't I want to talk to you?" I asked, straining against the ropes to get closer to him. "Hey, do you think you can loosen these ropes a bit, please?"

He frowned in the dim light of my room. "Only if you promise me you won't do anything rash. Don't run away or something, or I'll get in _serious_ trouble."

"I promise," I said eagerly. I had been lying on my back for the past one and a half days, I was getting cramped. Zach nodded, reaching under my bed to find the knot and loosen it.

His skilled fingers worked quickly, tugging at the rope underneath the bed until they fell away completely. I breathed in deeply, shifting myself to I could sit up.

"Thank you," I whispered, squeezing his hand.

"S'no problem." He murmered. His hand was rigid and cold under my hand.

"Are you OK?" I asked. He sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"This wasn't supposed to happen Cammie." He groaned.

I looked at him, startled. "Yeah, I know this wasn't supposed to happen, but it has. Now all we have to do it find a way outta here."

"No!" He exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the bed. "You can't, Cammie, they'll kill you. Listen, they're taking your blood to do tests on you, I'm not too sure why, it's because of something that your father found out. They won't tell me too much, but they _are _willing to kill you even before the tests are done."

I looked at him, his features still blurry and darkened by the light that _wasn't _in my room. He was frowning more than ever now.

"It's going to be OK." I started shakily. It sounded like even _I _didn't believe myself. Zach refused to look at me. I grabbed his stubbly chin, gently turning it until he was facing me. "It _has_ to be OK."

"Cammie, tell me one thing."

"Anything."

"It's about your father." He started to say slowly. I winced. "When you were younger, did he ever bring in any old books, or boxes. Something that he had to unlock by logic to open?"

I thought about it for a while. "Well, yeah, I suppose. He loved all that stuff. Sometimes we would just sit in a room for hours trying to unlock those things."

"What, exactly, were those things?" He pressed.

"I don't know, small boxes that had jewellery or pieces of paper with drawing on them inside. Sometimes they were just metal objects, kind of like a Rubik's cube. And they all had flowers on them. Different flowers all the time, but still flowers. Why?"

"It doesn't matter now." Zach told me quickly.

"Hey! You know you can tell me anything." I leaned in closer to him. "_Anything_."

I stared into his green eyes, and I don't know who leaned in first, but somehow we were kissing. Zach started to pull back suddenly.  
"What's wrong?" I asked. "Zach?"

"What do you mean, Zach?"

"Do you suddenly prefer Zachary?" I was confused.  
"No, not really, since it isn't my name."

_Oh, God._ I felt something in me sink lower and lower. _Please, God no, let this be a mistake._

The boy went to turn on the light in my room, and … I had kissed Sam.

_I _had _kissed Sam. _Zach's brother. The boy who betrayed me. The boy who was in the Circle of Cavan. Anger filled me up, and I sprang out of bed.  
"You!" I screamed, hands reaching out to close around his throat. He blocked me off easily. "YOU LYING, DECEIVING SON OF A—"

"Now, now Cammie." Sam warned, pushing me away from him. "No need to make a scene."

"NO NEED TO MAKE A SCENE?!" I yelled, "YOU USED ME, LIED TO ME, AND MADE ME TRUST AND YOU BOUGHT ME _HERE_ SO I COULD BE TESTED ON LIKE SOME KIND OF ANIMAL!"

"Well, it doesn't matter now Cammie, you gave me all the information I needed to know." Sam said coldly. He rapped on the glass window of the door, and two men came in to drag me back to the bed. I scratched and kicked, but they were stronger. They stuck a huge needle in me, and I was forced into a dreamless sleep, shouts melting away on my tongue.

I would have to get out of here soon. If I didn't they would kill me. And if they didn't kill me, I would kill Sam.


	13. Family History

**Even I'm really excited about this chapter. It took me all day to write, and it is quite long but I promise you it is COMPLETELY worth it, so tell me what you think ;)**

Chapter 12

"So, let's try and tell the truth, OK Cammie?" Stephen Cavan finished, sitting down in front of me after circling the Circle's own interrogation room.

"If you want me to tell the truth why don't you give me truth serum? You've given me worse before." I remarked, shuddering at the memory of the night they injected me with a fluid that felt piping hot in my veins and made my muscles spasm painfully all night.

"Because, I'm conducting an experiment within an experiment." Stephen sat down on the edge of the table, looking pointedly to the one sided mirror on the wall. It turned off, so I could see onto the other side, into the viewing room.

Zach was tied up to a chair, his face bruised and beaten. He was gagged, and looking around groggily. A cruel-faced woman wearing grey held a gun to his head. When she saw me looking she clicked the safety off. Zach shook his head minutely at me, and then the mirror turned back on so I was looking at my own reflection.

"You see," Stephen pointed a finger towards the mirror. "My experiment is, would you rather have Zach's brains paint the wall, or would you just tell me the truth?" Stephen cocked his head to the side. Stephen Cavan was a cruel man, and I would be surprised if he had a soul.

He was a man in his late twenties to early thirties, with salt-and-pepper hair. If you looked closely enough, you could see that he had one blue eye, one grey eye.

"And surely, you don't want any more guilt over your head regarding Zach, do you?" Stephen's eyes twinkled with amusement. I glared at him, clenching my fists. "OK, OK, I'm sorry." He chuckled, putting his hands up in surrender.

Zach could hear me on the other side, of that I was sure. Just imagining his confusion at what Stephen said made my eyes water with guilt.

"You said you wanted to talk," I said tersely. "So talk."

"Yes, of course. So, Cammie, these various things your father bought home from his trips. You said that there were flowers on them. What type of flowers?"

I glanced remorsefully at the mirror before saying, "Different flowers all the time. Roses, lilies, dahlias, orchids, apple blossoms. Stuff like that."

"Ah, I see." Stephen said thoughtfully. "Tell, me Cammie, what's your mother's favourite flower?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's a simple question, what's your mother's favourite flower?"

My eyes flickered to the mirror again. "Chrysanthemum, I guess."

"And did your father ever bring home any objects with Chrysanthemums on them?" Stephen pressed.

"No, I don't think so. He once got my mom a necklace with a Chrysanthemum on it." I narrowed my eyes, "Look, why are you asking me all these questions?"

"You know Cammie, for a chameleon you don't do a lot of background checks." Stephen sighed irritably. "Now ask yourself this; why did your mother become Gallagher's headmistress?"

"Because she retired?" It came out more like a question. Stephen gave me a horribly pitying look.

"Do you really believe that, Cammie?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to believe?"

"Let me tell you a story, the real reason why you're here." Stephen paused for effect before continuing. "Once upon a time, there was a girl called Gillian Gallagher, who killed this man called Ioseph Cavan. And this made her family and the Cavan family sworn enemies, obviously. The Cavan family were very proud, and over the ages, they kept trying to get revenge on the Gallagher family, which was, admittedly, nigh on impossible since the Gallagher family, although female, were very good spies." Stephen hesitated, thinking about something for a minute.

"No, wait, let's back up a bit." He started again. "After good old Gilly killed Ioseph, she went on to build a school for Exceptional Young Women, forgetting the fact that she left Ioseph Cavan with a widow. She was mourning the loss of her husband, and who should turn up to comfort her but her brother in law? Now here's a bit of family history for you Ms Morgan, Ioseph was unable to have children. The fact that his wife – Amelia- managed to get pregnant with a girl before he died was a miracle, but the fact that she found out she was pregnant for the second time after he died was, well, suspicious.

"Amelia Cavan's brother in law was supposedly a ladies man, shall we say, and it is rumoured that Amelia's second child, a boy, was his. Amelia denied this, of course, insisting she was a faithful wife. Anyway, the siblings grew up together, the girl being the only child who had memories of their late father. The children's uncle acted like a second father to them, teaching Amelia's son, Cedric, how to be a spy.

"Ever since he could crawl, Cedric was taught to hate the Gallagher family and all they stood for, and he passed this on to his children, and his children passed this on to their children, and so on and blah, blah, blah. So a couple of grandkids later, Cedric Jasper Cavan III found a way to shame the Gallaghers in the ultimate way. He happened to hear some information that Gallagher's headmistress was visiting relatives, and when she stopped one night in a nearby village, Cedric Jasper Cavan III saw his chance. He would seduce, who other, than Gilly's beloved great-granddaughter, Victoria Gallagher."

I stifled a gasp. Stephen smiled cunningly. "You do know who she is, don't you Cammie. I recall the night I tried to kill you that you were going into your safe room, behind Victoria's portrait. Beautiful woman, wasn't she?" Stephen chuckled darkly, taking a sip of water from the cup on the table. "Yes, she was already married, but with a little alcohol in her drink, and maybe some other substance Cedric had brewed, you can imagine what happened. Victoria never made it to her relatives. She was pregnant, with who other than a child who was half Gallagher half Cavan."

I started to shake my head, ready to spout out all of my history lesson facts that would prove him wrong, but before I could, Stephen was speaking again. "Luckily for the beautiful Victoria, nobody could help but love her. Her husband forgave her, turning his anger on the Cavan family instead. Victoria's sister helped her through the pregnancy. Victoria, being such a kind and religious woman, refused to abort the child, or even give it up when it was born. Instead, she chose to raise it, as if it was a true Gallagher baby.

"Unluckily, Victoria already had a child. A girl, who was still a baby when her half-sibling was born. Raising two young children was hard, especially when her husband eventually had to go off and fight in the war. But she tried. Unfortunately, Victoria fell ill soon after she heard her husband was dead. She died, leaving her dear Gallagher family heartbroken and her two daughters' orphans. The Gallagher family had to raise the children, but being proud Gallaghers, none of them could bear raising the child who was half Cavan." Stephen stopped to look at me.

"This next bit is explains why I'm asking you about flowers, Cammie. You see, Victoria loved flowers, nature, what have you. She named her two daughters Heather and Ivy. Ivy was the child who was only half Gallagher. So, Heather was taken by Victoria's sister, Claudia, and raised to be, some say, one of Gallagher's best spies. Ivy, was given away to a spy family who couldn't have children of their own. The two were raised separately, too young to remember they even had a sister. But the Gallagher family knew. In memory of Victoria, each generation created something like a time capsule, something that had a flower on it. These capsules could only be opened by logic and through true knowledge of the Gallagher family, and in these capsules was a piece of information. Whether it was a drawing, or some writing or whatever, it contained information about the two family lineages

"Heather and Ivy's families, to be precise. They weren't made by Heather and Ivy's families, they were made by their cousins, who knew the truth, while the actual descendants of Heather and Ivy knew nothing. Heather's family went on to be Gallagher's headmistresses, and if you don't know already, your friend Macey McHenry is part of that family. Ivy's family was harder to trace, but we finally did. So I ask you again, Cammie. Why did your mother become headmistress of Gallagher? Because Macey's family are politicians, not spies. Why do you think Mr Winters, a mere political figure would be so interested in spies? Because he was working on my behalf, tracing Ivy's lineage. He thought Macey might know something. While he was wrong, he did find something else.

"You, Cammie. He found you. At the age of 6 you solved a time capsule that had a flower on it called a Middlemist Red. One of the rarest flowers in the world, because it contained a rare piece of information. Your father, not being of Gallagher lineage didn't understand the clue, but someone else did. He was caught carrying that information, looking for answers to the riddle that Jessica Gallagher had written on parchment and sealed in a time capsule so many years ago. Your father didn't understand it, but the Circle did. We cracked the riddle, and traced the lineage since 1938 until we found who we were looking for. Who other than, MORGAN, CAMERON, daughter of Rachel and Matthew. Your mother saw the riddle while your father was still alive. She suspected she was a descendant of Ivy's but she was too scared to find out. So instead she became Gallaghers headmistress to protect Macey and to protect you.

"When your father gave her that necklace with the chrysanthemum, she turned it into a capsule and wrote down a piece of information on it." Stephen reached into his pocket and took out my mother's locket. He twisted the necklace and pushed on the middle of the flower, and the locket opened. Inside was a slip of paper. He handed it to me ad very gingerly, I opened it to find myself looking at my mother's handwriting. The paper read- _Heather- Macey McHenry. Ivy- Cameron Morgan_.

I didn't know what to do. I just kept staring at the paper. Stephen finally said, "I am allergic to penicillin. So is my mother, and my grandfather, and my grandfather's father. I injected you with penicillin, and you had a bad reaction to it. It proved, that you and Macey are the last descendants of Gillian Gallagher. But the special thing is, you are also my relative, one of the last descendants of Ioseph Cavan."

I sat, stunned, unmoving. Stephen Cavan was my relative. I was the great-great- I don't know how many greats grandchild of Ioseph Cavan, and Gillian Gallagher, and Victoria Gallagher. I didn't say anything. There was a buzzing sound, and Stephen went out of the room.

"Yeah, go ahead," I heard him say. A second later, I heard a gunshot coming from the viewing room.


	14. That's My Daughter

**I have reached 80 reviews so in celebration I posted this chapter early! Enjoy :)**

"ZACH!" I screamed before I even realised I was speaking. Alarms rang out. The doors buzzed and locked, and as they did I stood up suddenly, trying to get to the mirror. But my right arm was handcuffed to the chair, and the chair was drilled into the floor. My fingers could barely skim the mirror.

Then the mirror was shot, sending shards of glass spraying. Once, twice, three times, until it was all gone. I covered my face with my arms, and then someone was grabbing me.

"NO! GET OFF!" I yelled.

"No, Cammie, we have to go," A familiar voice said. No, I didn't dare hope. Slowly, I peeked between the gaps of my arms. It was Zach.

"Zach! Ohmygod I thought you were dead!" I sobbed, flinging my arms around him.

"Come on, Cams, you know I wouldn't leave my Gallagher Girl without a goodbye." Zach whispered, cutting away my handcuff with a pocketknife. He tutted. "Look, there's no time, you're gonna have to go like this." He gave a final tug on my handcuff, and the chain came away, leaving the clasp on my wrist.

"OK, fine, whatever, let's just get the hell outta here!" I said eagerly. Zach took a gun out of the waistband of his jeans and shot the security camera before climbing on the table and sliding away one of the wall panels. He took my hand and pulled me up onto the table. I hoisted myself into the air vent and Zach followed me, pulling the panel back in place as best as he could.

"This way," He shouted over the blaring alarm, crawling along the vents. I didn't know where we were going but he must have, because a few minutes later, I could see the light of the moon. My heart started pounding with adrenaline rush.

This is it, I was finally getting out. "We're gonna have to jump!" Zach yelled, pointing down. He unscrewed the grated closing of the vent with his pocketknife (and silently, I wondered where did he get that?) He dropped the grate and it fell with splash- water?

Zach jumped and I immediately followed him. I took in my first deep breath of fresh air in 10 days before I hit the water.

It was freezing, and my first impulse was to breathe in, but I stopped myself. Zach grabbed my hand to keep me from rising to the surface, and gave me a reassuring kiss before pulling my hand to take me to shore.

I was trained to hold my breath in for –so far- 5 minutes and 13 seconds, but from the shock of the cold water I couldn't help but cough when me and Zach resurfaced.

"Where are we?" I asked, shivering as I looked around. "And why do you have blood on your shirt?"

"Smith Mountain Lake." Zach replied standing up, only answering one of my questions.. I know it was inappropriate at the time but Zach's long sleeve cotton shirt was sticking to his chest, and I couldn't help but notice his abs.

"How d'you know that?" I asked, distracting myself from Zach's toned body.

"Sam told me." Zach said, heading quickly down the pebbled path away from the lake and to the twinkling lights of houses nearby.

"Sam?! And you trust him?" My teeth chattered.

"I kind of have to right now." Zach confessed. "He's the one who helped me – helped us – escape."

"Can you… explain?" I asked, as we walked down a street decorated with Christmas decorations. The chilly December air made my wet clothes heavy and icy. I swear my fingers were starting to turn blue.

"Sure- this house." Zach pointed to a house with no lights and very few decorations. He went round the back and checked all the usual places people hide spare keys. "I was in the viewing room, watching Stephen Cavan talk to you, and then Sam came in. He knocked out that woman who was holding the gun, and untied me. He told me how to get out, but the woman was waking up, so Sam shot her. He then went away to remove the security tapes and locked us in the room so no-one could get in while we escaped."  
Zach found the key and after a few tries, managed to get the key in the lock. His hands were shaking really badly.

Inside the house it was warmer. I searched the rooms for clothes, finding a teenage girls' room. She seemed to love the colour black. I changed out of my wet clothes and into a black vest, shirt and pants. It was quite weird, but I found a pair of unopened underwear, so I took some plain black undies. I couldn't afford to leave a trail; I wringed out my wet clothes and found a bin bag to put them in.

I met Zach downstairs. He was twirling car keys on a keychain round his index finger. "Ready?" He asked. I nodded. Zach had loaded some food and his wet clothes into a black 4 x 4. We were lucky that it had a full tank of gas, and we were soon eating in warmth as we were cruising down the highway.

"Why do you think he did it?" I wondered aloud. "Sam, I mean. Why did he help us?"

" I don't know. Maybe he felt guilty, maybe he was annoyed at the Circle, maybe he was on our side all along. I don't know." Zach confessed."Cams, I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" I said cautiously. _God, please don't let his question be—_

_"_What did Cavan mean, 'you wouldn't want any more guilt over your head regarding Zach'?"

_Dammit. _"OK, Zach, I want to be honest with you, so I'm just going to tell you," I took a deep breath. "I kissed Sam."

I could hear my heart pounding in my head. Zach didn't say anything. "Oh, God, it's not what it sounds like, I mean, yeah, I did kiss Sam but I didn't mean to—I mean, I did mean to, but. Oh, God. I was drowsy and then Sam came in and I thought he was you because you look identical, and he was upset so I kissed him and as soon as I realised what I'd done I felt so guilty, and I'm sorry, Zach, I'm so, _so _sorry!" It all came out in a rush. To my surprise, Zach took my hand and squeezed it.

"Cammie, it's OK." He whispered. "You didn't mean to, and right now I'm just glad we're alive, I'm not going to be upset over something minor."

"Zach, I love you." I said solemnly.

"I love you too."

And then, I was crying again. Silent sobs, because we were alive, and I was so scared, and I had a whole family and history I didn't know about. I was crying because I was going home, and I was finally safer than I had been in weeks, and I was exhausted, and because I love Zach and he loved me.

It took us 3 hours and 57 minutes to get back to Roseville. My heart sped up as I saw the familiar lights of my lovely Virginia town. We drove down the path to Gallagher, stopping the car when we got to the metal gates.

"At least they finally updated the system," Zach said casually. The fence was 12 feet tall, and it looked harmless, unless you listened and you could hear the rhythmic buzz of electricity running through the metal spokes. "Now the only problem is, how do we tell them we're here?"

"I guess, we have to trigger the alarm." I said, cracking my knuckles. This is what I do best. "Now, the fence electrifies every 10 seconds, and the electricity runs through it for 5 seconds. So we have to climb over the fence in 10 seconds."  
"Easy."

"OK, 3… 2… NOW!" I counted down after the 5 second hum of electricity finished. Me and Zach found foot and hand holes in between the spokes. 6 seconds left. We were at the top. 3 seconds left. We dropped down just as the hum started again, but I was a little late. "OW, OW, OW!" I hissed, eyes tearing up from the pain.

"You OK?" Zach asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, let's keep going. Now what." I refused to let a little pain stop me now.

"Now we walk." Zach said, and hand in hand we walked forward. Nothing happened, until—

Me and Zach groaned as the piercing sound hit our ears. It was a high pitch wail, something I recognised attacked a part of your brain to make it overload. It was painful. We dropped onto our knees, clasping our hands to our heads in attempt to block out the noise.

It seemed to go on forever, but it finally stopped.

"STOP! THAT'S MY DAUGHTER!" I could barely hear my mom's familiar voice over the shriek ricocheting off my skull.

Then I was flooded with faces and voices, and Mr Solomon was picking up Zach's limp body off the grass, and Abby's strong hands lifted me up. We were carried to the infirmary, and even though we had migraines, and we couldn't move our bodies we were still conscious. We kept looking at each other.

We were exhausted and there were so many people surrounding us, even though personally I wanted to be alone with Zach.

But it was OK. We were home.


	15. Next Weekend's Circus

Sorry it took me so long to upload!

**Chapter 14**

"CAMMIE!" Bex yelled, flinging her arms around me.

"Good to see you to, Bex." I choked. "Can't. Breathe!" Bex loosened her grip slightly.

"Zach! Man, am I glad to see you!" Bex turned to hug Zach, who looked startled but slightly pleased. Macey and Liz stepped forward and hugged me, grinning ear to ear. I was happy, but all I could keep thinking was, Macey is my cousin.

"From what we heard you would still be stuck in… well, wherever you were, if it weren't for Zach," Liz hugged me again, tightly. I hadn't realised how much I missed her southern accent and the smell of her coconut shampoo.

"Oh, Zach thanks so much! I could kiss you!" Macey exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow. "But I won't." She added quickly, smiling.

"Just out of curiosity, where were you?" Bex interjected, turning to face me.

"Smith Mountain Lake," I said, glancing momentarily at Zach.

"We were so close to finding you!" Liz exclaimed. "I can't believe it. If we had gotten there before you guys escaped I would have freaking ripped someone's head off!"

I was suddenly fighting the inappropriate impulse to laugh, and I could see Zach straining to not crack a smile. Macey bit her lip and pretended to inspect her nails. The thought of someone as tiny and innocent as Liz hurting a _fly_ was ridiculous. "Thank you, Liz," I said soberly.

"Un-freaking-believable. You were literally right under our noses!" Bex ignored us, throwing her hands up in exasperation, about to go full-out rant, before she was interrupted by my mom.

"Bex, maybe some other time?" My mom said as more a statement than a suggestion.

"Sure thing, Mrs Morgan." Bex eyed me warily.

"Cammie, Zach, could you please go into my office? Abby wants to talk to you. Of course, so do I but I have over 700 students in this school, and as you can imagine…" My mom trailed off, worn out by the thought of the rumours and gossip that involved the alarms going off and then me and Zach lying paralysed on Gallaghers perfectly manicured lawns (and I suspected part of the talk was how annoyed the gardeners would be after trimming over 100 square meters of grass and me and Zach ruined it in less than a minute).

"Oh, and Cammie?" My mom added, hovering in the doorway of the private infirmary. "Please don't be seen. You can't come back to Gallagher fully for a while."

I nodded slowly. Something was wrong with my mom. She looked like she had been fighting off a cold, which could have happened, but mostly it kind of looked like she had been crying. This was a scary thought.

Tough-stuff Agent Rachel Morgan was _not_ a crier. Seriously, one time we were skiing and she broke 2 bones in her arm and dislocated her shoulder- didn't even say "ow". I'm not even kidding. She had me put her shoulder back in place and then skied all the way to the hospital.

I did later find out that she was secretly trailing someone and screaming in pain _probably_ would have given us away, but still, you gotta give her points for restraint.

Still, I brushed that thought away and smiled apologetically to my friends, then got up off my bed to take Zach's hand. There were only 3 secret passageways to my mom's office. This was because originally, although Gilly wanted privacy she wasn't a fool. If there were sneak attacks on her she wanted a quick way out.

One way could only be accessed in the summer, because the winter frost froze the entrance to it. The second way meant you had to be well stocked with 50 metres of rappel-a-cord, heat proof gloves and flexibility. The third way seemed the easiest choice. All we had to do was walk 50 metres down a chilly, if not draughty, corridor.

To get into the office, you had to push (or pull, depending on which side you were on) on a fake bookcase. Well, that's what you used to be able to do. Now I see my mom had added a thumbprint keypad.

I sighed. This bookcase wasn't going to open for me, I wouldn't even bother trying. "ABBY!" I pounded on the wall. "LEMME IN!" My fist was suddenly flying through the air, almost hitting Abby on the shoulder as she 'opened' the bookcase.

Before I knew what was happening Abby was cradling me awkwardly in a hug, something she didn't get a chance to do last night after me and Zach were carried to the private infirmary. There, we were surrounded by swarms of people. There was confusion, tears, shouting, various pointy needles professional boxers would be afraid of, and then a tired looking nurse/ex-CIA agent telling everybody to _back off and give them room to breathe or else._

"Missed you too, Abs." I said, hugging her back. Abby stepped out of the hug, motioning for me and Zach to follow her into my mom's office. As I was walking over to a chair, my eye caught on a tapestry that listed all of Gallagher's headmistresses. I scanned the top of the list- Gillian, Prudence, Neave, Victoria, Claudia, Heather- written in curly cursive writing that was crackled from old age.

Macey's family. My family too. There was only room of the wall to go up to 1945, when the headmistress was Sarah O'Connell. I guess over time, the headmistresses lost their Gallagher surname. Next to the first tapestry was another one, which started in 1952 with Mary Strong.

"Cammie? You coming?" Zach's voice snapped me back from my train of thought. I nodded, moving away from the tapestry just as my eyes caught on the name Rachel Morgan. Who's going to be after her? Me? Macey? Someone else?

I sat down in a cushioned leather chair next to Zach. Maybe Liz would make a good headmistress…

"Cammie, Zach, I'm going to need you to tell me everything that happened from when you were taken to when you escaped and got back here." Abby looked at me and Zach solemnly, all business now. She clicked the record button on an audio voice recorder.

"I woke up in the van when Zach was unconscious." I started slowly, shuddering at the memory. "Sam was talking to Stephen Cavan. Stephen wanted Sam to help him with something, but Sam didn't want to do it. Stephen then said that it was Sam's anniversary tomorrow, three years since he had joined the Circle. That's when Sam saw me awake, and he knocked me out again."

Abby didn't say anything but her lips turned into a tight line and her fists were slightly clenched. "And then?" She pressed.

"They kept us in separate rooms." Zach filled in. "I tried to escape whenever I could, by picking the lock, getting out of my restraints, knocking out the guards. I never managed to escape though." Zach trailed off.

Abby frowned. "Why? I mean, you are a talented spy."  
"Because he always stopped to get me out. But they always caught him." I said softly. Abby's mouth formed an _oh _shape.

"What next?" Abby asked. And then me and Zach took turns in filling her in on the 10 days we spent in a Circle hideout in Smith Mountain Lake. The drugs, the blood tests, the long talks we spent hooked up to a polygraph. I told her how Sam tricked me into talking to him by pretending he was Zach. Finally I told her about the talk I had with Stephen Cavan on the last day. How I had to tell him about the artefacts my dad got, otherwise Zach would have been shot. I skipped out the story Stephen told me, because I had to tell Macey and my mom and her at the same time.

Then Zach joined in with how Sam helped him- helped us- escape. Abby was as confused as we were about Sam. Whose side was he on?

And just when we finished, Macey walked in, with Bex following her. "Cammie," Macey took a deep breath. "I'm not too sure how to say this, but, erm, you have a letter for you?" She showed me the thick cream envelope, which said Cameron Morgan on it in spiky black writing.

"Let me see that." I said, grabbing the envelope out of her hand. Inside was a letter that read, _"Dear Cammie. I'm going to guess you're back at Gallagher Academy. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot but we didn't finish out talk. The circus is in Roseville next weekend; I hope to see you there. Stephen."_

I looked inside the envelope, and took out 4 circus tickets.

"Cammie? What's in the letter?" Bex asked.

"Stephen Cavan wants me to meet him next weekend." I held up the tickets. "At the circus."


	16. Welcome To The House Of Fun

**Chapter 15**

"What do you mean, Stephen Cavan wants to meet you at the circus?" Abby snapped.

"Exactly that. He says, the circus is in Roseville next weekend and he wants to see me there." I said, eyes scanning the tickets. They all said "1 Teenager", meaning, one for me and 3 for my friends. He knew I would want protection. Either that, or he was up to something.

"Well obviously you can't go." Abby stated, reaching for the tickets. I dodged her hands, stuffing the tickets into my pocket.

"I have to. You don't understand. Besides, the Circus is a crowded place, it's not like he can do anything in public." I said logically.

"I agree with Cammie." Bex joined in. "Besides, we could have people monitoring Cammie's every move."

"There are four tickets. All for teens. That means one for me, and then one for… Bex, Macey and Zach?" I wondered. I mean, it was my choice. Bex and Zach would protect me, and Macey needed to know what was happening. It involved her too.

"We're going to have to go, Abby. And knowing Cammie, she'll go with or without your permission." Macey reasoned.

Abby sighed in an exasperated way. "Fine. Liz will be part of the security surveillance. And I want at least 10 MI7 standing by."

"Done." I said instantly. Now all I had to do was wait until next Saturday.

Monday passed uneventfully. I sneaked around in corridors and overheard Tina Walters spreading rumours, as per usual. I got questioned some more, and that was it. On Tuesday I realised I was going to have to talk to Macey. While the nurse was doing her final health check-ups on me, I started to figure out what I was going to say to her.

On Wednesday, we had to figure out our game plan. We would all have silenced guns, just in case. Liz would be in a white van and 15 (not 10, since Abby was getting paranoid) MI7 would be standing by with guns and Tasers.

Thursday I had hand-to-hand combat training with Mr Solomon, Macey, Bex and Zach, to be extraprepared and that pretty much took up the whole day. I was so tired I just didn't want to talk to Macey. And then it was Friday. I had to pluck up the courage to talk to Macey. I decided I would do it at lunch.

Liz and Bex had to finish up security plans for Saturday but Macey and I had some time to kill. We now had a private sort of kitchenette in which we could eat out lunch (roast dinner with gravy and homemade crème brulee for dessert- Chef was feeling particularly charitable that day). We sat and ate, and talked about homework, how to get extra credit for Cove-Ops, which I would be starting again soon, what we thought of Mr Smith's new face- by the way, we both agreed it was hot.

The conversation quietened and I saw my opportunity to talk to Macey. I silently made a list in my head.

**_Ways This Conversation Could Go_**

**_(A List by Cameron Morgan)_**

I could very calmly explain to Macey what Stephen told me, and how it was very likely we were cousins.

I could tell Macey the story and she would think I was lying/insane/drugged

I would panic and yell "YOU'RE MY COUSIN" and not get a chance to explain to Macey how we were related before the surprise had been given away.

Personally, I leaned towards Option Number 2- it would be easier if I was lying/insane/drugged.

"So, Macey." I started.

"So, Cammie." Macey mimicked me, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me.

"I have something to tell you, something that I didn't tell Abby or the guys who asked me questions. I didn't tell them, because it didn't concern them. It's kind of a big deal, but it's none of their business." I said in a rush. Macey nodded once.

"You're pregnant." She said solemnly.

"What? No!"

"Well, Cammie, that's a pretty big deal, and if it isn't _that_ then I think it's not that big. Lay it on me," Macey gestured for me to continue. If only she were wrong- it was totally not a small thing.

"OK, so. When I was in that place where the Circle had me and Zach, Stephen Cavan asked me all these weird questions about stuff my dad bought home from missions and flowers and.. I don't know, just random stuff! Anyway he told me what he called "family history" about how Cedric Jasper Cavan the Third got Victoria Gallagher pregnant, and the baby was half Gallagher and half Cavan, only the problem was Victoria already had a kid- Heather. Anyway, stuff happened, Victoria died and the two half-sisters were split up and raised by different families. Heather's family were Gallagher headmistresses, and Heather is your great-great-however-many-greats grandmother, and Ivy, her half-sister, had a family, but Heather didn't know about it and neither did her descendants, and Ivy and her family didn't know about Heather but they finally found out who Ivy's descendants are and I'm the last one on the list!" I blurted out in a rush.  
"Wait, what?" Macey frowned, working out my story in her head. "Does that mean, that you're my cousin or something?"

"Yes."

"And does that also mean that while I'm related to Gilly, you're related to Gilly _and _Ioseph Cavan?"

"Yes."

"Oh. My. God." Macey leaned back in her chair.

"I know." I put my head in my hands. "I wanted to tell you because you have the right to know, but I didn't want to tell anyone else because, well, I'm a freaking great granddaughter of the man who Gallagher's have despised for centuries!"

"But Cammie, it's not your fault." Macey reasoned, leaning in to talk to me. "And it's not like you're changed. You're still the same Cammie you were two weeks ago, or a month ago, or a year ago. And you know, I've never had any family other than my parents. I never had any cousins or brothers or sister, it was just me. And now I have you. There is a silver lining to all of this."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Now come on, we have to get ready for tomorrow. So we did. I was really glad I told Macey. It wasn't so hard after all. We were in a new dorm, one that was used for Gallagher's guests, so it was very luxurious and very secure. The red carpet was soft and plush, our beds were bouncy and we had like a gazillion pillows, and the bathroom was huge. We had a bath and a shower cabinet. I noticed this, but I wasn't too fazed by it. The room was filled with nervous energy and tension, and I was kind of relieved when I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up the next morning at 6am, to find Bex and Macey also awake. Liz was lucky and still sleeping soundly, snoring softly.

"What're we going to do until we have to go?" Bex asked quietly.

I remembered that day when I was too nervous to sleep, so I went rock climbing in the gym. "I have an idea…" I said. Half an hour later, we were climbing on the walls. There were four wall sections built together as one. We thought of it as the medium, hard, very hard, and very, _very_ hard. There was no easy in Gallagher. Macey stayed to the hard, while Bex trialled the very hard, and I decided to challenge myself and go on the most difficult wall to climb. Macey and Bex were near the top of their walls, but I was only a quarter of the way up.

There were only a few nooks and handholds scattered every metre or so on the wall. "Cammie, why don't you try something easier?" Bex yelled down to me.

"No way! I want to do this!" I yelled back up to her.

"Suit yourself then." Bex remarked as she passed me slowly while the mechanical lever rope lowered her. _Fine, I will, _I thought. Macey eventually let go of the handholds and was lowered down too. She passed me while I was halfway up. She and Bex were lying on their backs at the bottom of the wall, shouting advice to me. Three quarters of the way up, they started arguing on whether I should put my foot on the green ridge or the blue one.

By the time I was a metre away from the top, my muscles were trembling from exhaustion, and I was covered in sweat. I bought my foot up until my knee was touching my chin, trying to boost myself onto a thin blue ridge. I pushed myself up and at the last second my toes slipped off it, making my knee bang into the rough wall. Bex and Macey chorused sympathetic _oohs_.

My foot scraped against the wall, trying to find purchase against the coarse surface. My hands were slipping.

_Come on Cammie, use your upper body strength, _I told myself. I forced my muscles in my arm to contract, pulling me upward. My foot scrabbled again, until I found the ridge. I pushed upwards, and after hours I finally reached the top. Bex and Macey whooped and cheered. I let go of the ridges, handing back while the lever lowered me slowly. I lay down on the floor, breathing hard but smiling.  
I did it. I tried, and I did it.

By the time I had showered, eaten, dressed (and got my hair and makeup done because I was forced to by Macey) and then got my bulletproof vest and silenced gun, it was already 4, and dark outside from the short winter days.

Abby drove the surveillance and protection team and me, Zach, Macey and Bex to the circus in silence. She acted like she was fine with everything but her white knuckles and grim mouth said differently.

The circus was in full swing, with acrobats and gymnasts flipping down the grassy 'roads', fire breathers were spitting fire flames, there were hidden speakers playing _Welcome to the House of Fun_, which gave the circus a jovial, if not slightly eerie, atmosphere.

Being trained spies, me and my best friends knew what to do. We instantly blended into the crowd, pretending we were normal teenage girls (which we definitely weren't) who were just enjoying the circus (which, we kind of were, but it was kind of ruined by the thought that I have to talk to Stephen).

We mingled for half an hour, looking at the gypsy fortune teller who predicted an old memory would come back tonight (whatever that meant) and then passing by the lion tamer, the acrobats and the fire breathers before I spotted a familiar face. I saw Stephen Cavan leaning on the side of the game where you catch rubber ducks on fishing poles to win prizes. My hand flinched towards the gun stuffed in the waistband of my jeans.

"Hey, d'you guys wanna be nostalgic?" I asked in a Virginian accent, pointedly looking at the rubber duck stand.

"Oh, yeah! Great idea!" Bex exclaimed, mimicking my accent perfectly. We started walking to where Stephen was perched, fingers itching to grab my gun. Zach heard us on our micro-transmitters, and started towards the fishing stand. Zach stopped suddenly, shock thundering across his face.  
"Zach? What's wrong?" Macey hissed into her transmitter/dangly earring. Then I saw Stephen reach down and pick up a small 5 year old girl, kissing her on the cheek and getting her a teddy bear prize. I walked forward faster, and heard Stephen say to the little girl, "What do you think Lenny, want another go?" He then spotted me. "Ah, Cammie, just in time. Cammie, this is my daughter Elena, but you can call her Lenny."

The girl had long sandy hair and blue eyes, and she smiled shyly at me. My jaw dropped. _Stephen Cavan_ had a _daughter_. Bex nudged me, and I snapped my mouth shut and muttered a hello. "Daddy, can I go see the animals?" Lenny asked, tugging her father's sleeve to catch his attention

"Yeah, sure honey. Go and stay _right there_, OK? Me and Cammie need to talk." Stephen said, stroking Lenny's silky hair. The animals were ready to be petted and fed just two metres away from the fishing stand, and Lenny ran eagerly to a baby bunny.

I was still staring at her. My mind was blown. Stephen Cavan. Had. A. Daughter. And just when my night couldn't get any more complicated…

"Cammie? Is that you?" Said a voice from behind me. _Dear God, anything but that._ I plastered a fake smile on my face and turned around stiffly.

"Josh! Hi! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Somewhere up there, someone has got it in for me.


	17. Welcome To The Lion's Den

"Josh! Hi! I didn't expect to see you here!" I said; face aching from my overly big smile.

"Yeah, I didn't know what else to do on a weekend like this," Josh said, glancing at Zach, my friends, and Stephen. _Oh, I don't know, Josh. Read a book, watch a movie, do some homework, stay home_, I thought irritably. "So, anyway, how are you, and who's this?"

"Well, this is Zach who you've met." I stalled while Zach said "Hi, Jimmy," because he never called Josh by his real name. "And this is my, erm… my, er…" I glanced behind me, where Stephen was biting back an amused smile.

"I'm her uncle," Stephen improvised (though it may well have been true), and extended a hand to the puzzled Josh.  
"Her uncle. Wow. I can't really see the resemblance, but still. Cammie, you never told me you had an uncle." Josh said almost accusingly. _Well, you never told me you were going out with Dee Dee._

"Yeah, he's not really my uncle he's my cousin's twice removed mother's husband." I stammered out random relatives. "Anyway, where's Dee Dee?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh, er, we kind of broke up." Josh admitted, running a hand though his hair.

"Oh? Really? Why?" I couldn't help but feel a stab of smugness. I mean, I was with Zach 100%. But still.

"It's a long story." Josh sighed, closing the subject.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Macey shrieked behind me. I turned to find Sam standing beside her in a black hoodie. I felt like banging my head against the wall. What the hell could I have possibly done in a past life to deserve this?!

Zach's face glowered as he walked up to Sam and punched him.

"Dude, what the hell?!" Josh exclaimed, running forward to push him away from Sam.

"Well, I may have deserved that." Sam said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin.

"No, you definitely deserved that." Zach glared.

"It doesn't matter whether he deserved it or not, you don't just go around punching people!" Josh raised his voice, and people were starting to look at us.

"Calm down, Jimmy, he's my brother." Zach said sullenly as an explanation.

"Josh." Josh corrected sourly. He was distracted by the ringing of his phone. While Josh was talking, I glared at everyone and had a silent conversation with Macey.

_Distract him! _I mouthed.

_If you're suggesting the Scaredy-Cat, that's a no. _Macey mouthed back. The Scaredy-Cat was what we had come to call a play Macey had used in our junior year. She would distract a boy (the subject) by walking with him, and then she would shiver and find something to be afraid of. The subject would step up to be a tough man and therefore providing a distraction lasting 10 minutes up to 6 hours (our record is 6 hours 23 minutes, and Macey swore _never again_.

_Please? For me? _I pleaded with my eyes.

Macey shook her head, mouthing _Make Bex do it. _I rolled my eyes. Macey sighed, uttering _you owe me big time_, before Josh turned around and Macey put on her most winning smile. "So, Josh." She started.

"Uh, sorry. I've got to go." Josh said, waving bye and smiling apologetically, moving towards the entrance to the circus.

Macey exhaled in relief, but Stephen chuckled. "And just _what_ do you think is so funny?" I snapped.

"Oh, never mind. Come on, let's go get Lenny and we'll talk." Stephen turned around to add, "Ah, minus the armed muscle you call your friends."

"If you think you're going anywhere with her _without _us, you are freaking insane!" Bex said (or, at least she said something to that effect, I took out the rude words).

"Please mind your language, Rebecca, my daughter is only little." Stephen said lightly, walking over to his fair-haired daughter who was feeding some geese chunks of bread while they bobbed their heads in time to the music.

"Daddy, can we go see the lions now?" Lenny asked, spotting her father. Stephen nodded, walking towards the lion's tent. I whispered to my friends that Stephen wouldn't talk to me unless I was alone, and they shouldn't come with me but stay close.

Inside the lion tent it was surprisingly empty, but the lion tamer was still struggling to keep his show going, despite the uncooperative lion who was flicking his tail lazily. Lenny was still young, so she didn't mind at all. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Well, we never finished our talk last time I saw you, and Lenny wanted to see the circus. Since it was in Roseville, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to talk to you." Stephen sighed. "I explained about the flowers, and the stuff your dad used to bring home. Well, there was something else he took, something rather precious that belonged to me."

"Mommy used to love big cats, didn't she, Daddy?" Lenny said, not taking her eyes off the sandy lion.  
"Yes, she did." Maybe it was just me, but I thought Stephen's voice sounded a bit hoarse. And, _used to_ and _did_? As in the past tense?

"Is her mom dead?" I whispered in Hungarian, nodding towards Lenny and assuming Stephen would understand.

"I don't know. She went missing and her captors, I'm assuming, hated me and my family a lot. So they decided to tease me, leaving me clues to find her. They left the last one somewhere they knew I could never get it. In a Gallagher artefact." Stephen replied in fluent Hungarian. "And I was very close to finding it, but someone else found it before me- your father."  
"How old is your daughter?"

"Almost 7, but she's small for her age."

"Does she remember her mother?"

"No. I tell her stories about her."

"When did your wife go missing?"

"3 months after Lenny was born."

I did the math. That would put Lenny's mother's disappearance right around the time my dad went on a mission to bring down the Circle and never came back. "You don't think my dad kidnapped her, do you?"

"Yes, I do. And even if he didn't, I still want that last clue to look for Sophia's whereabouts." Stephen's voice turned cold. Sophia must have been the name of his wife.

"And just why did you tell me this?" I had a bad feeling in my gut again.

"Look, Cammie, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I have no other choice. I need you to find me that artefact, and bring it to me. Once I have that, I promise I'll leave you alone." Stephen said.

"What did you do?" I panicked, raising my voice. Lenny looked at me, startled.

"I did something that would encourage you to do as I asked," Stephen said simply, turning to Lenny and saying in English, "Come on, Len. It's getting late." Lenny unquestionably followed her father out of the tent, waving goodbye to me shyly. I ran out, but Stephen was a spy. He had blended into the crowd.

I ran towards the entrance/exit, eyes frantically scanning my surroundings. The surveillance van was gone, but I spotted Liz's tiny body shivering in the cold by the entrance. My friends ran and caught up to me. "Liz, where's the van?" I asked through gritted teeth. Only now did I notice her teary-eyed face.

"Cams, I'm so sorry," Her teeth chattered and I struggled to make out the words she said. "They did it again. Cammie, they broke in, and- and, they took your mom."


	18. You're Staring

**Sorry I took a while to upload :) And also, sorry that there's a lot going on at the moment but it will all come together soon, I promise :D**

******Chapter 17**

I had been searching through my mom's office for 12 hours straight now. It looked like a hurricane had gone through it, with piles of books taken off the bookshelves and stacked precariously on the floor, drawers left open, loose papers on the floor. The fire in the fireplace was dying out for the fourth time, since the heating in the office no longer worked.

When Stephen's spies had broken in, they had ruptured one of the pipes in the walls, so there was no more heating. The ancient fireplace was all I had. And somewhere in the mansion, Sam was locked in a high-security room. He said that he volunteered to stay at Gallagher to make sure I didn't do anything rash, and to help with the finding of the Gallagher artefact. I wasn't sure whether I believed him. The last of the flames dwindled and died, and the room turned cold.

"Cammie?" A voice asked carefully. I turned around, to see Macey standing in the doorway, in a piece of material that could hardly be called a nightgown and leggings.

"Yeah?" I sniffed. I just couldn't seem to stop tears rolling down my face. Macey's eyes widened a bit when she saw me. My nose and eyes were red, and my mascara had smeared.

"It's one in the morning. You need to get some sleep." She whispered gently.

"No, no, I just have a corner left to do, and then I'm done. And I have to find something soon. I'll be done in an hour, I promise." I argued feebly, dabbing at my eye with my sleeve.

"Sure, Cammie, just sleep for a little bit first, 'kay?" She soothed, talking to me like I was a baby.

"No, I need to get my mom back as soon as possible." I snivelled, turning back to my chest of drawers. I had almost finished with the bottom drawer.

"She's going to be all right." Macey perched on the edge of a huge leather chair, making sure not to knock over one of the stacks of books near her.

"No, she isn't! You don't know what it's like, Macey! What if they hurt her?!" I wheeled round to face her angrily. Macey looked guiltily down at her hands, not wanting to say anything. I sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. Just let me finish this, OK?"

"Just sleep for a few hours. And then you can wake up, have something to eat and you'll finish looking through the office quicker." Macey reasoned, coming over to crouch near my fort of books I had surrounded myself in. I hated to admit it, but it made sense. It was logical that I should rest and then if I found something, I would be able to process the information properly.

"Fine. But just for a few hours, got it?" I yawned. Macey gingerly held out a hand to help me up. I vaguely noticed that her nail beds were raw and chewed, something Macey only did if she was incredibly stressed. My legs were stiff and numb from sitting on the floor, and I knocked over a few books. "Oops." I said, not really caring any more.

I walked groggily as Macey lead me to our luxurious room. The hallways were chilly, but our room was dark, warm and cosy. I slumped down to sit on my bed, surprised to feel a person-shaped lump already in it. It was Zach, I could tell because I could smell his peppermint mouthwash.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"Hope it's OK if I bunk with you, they're fitting out my room with new security tech, and all the other rooms were full." Zach whispered sleepily. Of course, I knew this wasn't true since Gallagher had hundreds of rooms, but I didn't really mind.

"So long as you don't hog the covers." I said, too tired to care. I kicked off my shoes, putting my head to rest on Zach's chest. I was sleepy, but I didn't want to sleep. Zach's steady breathing and heartbeat calmed me down, until I could think clearly. Too clearly.

I thought about what had happened, what could have happened if I hadn't gone to the damned circus, what might be happening right now. My mom was a pawn in Stephens' game, but she was a valuable pawn who knew a lot of top secret information that agents needed to have a level 7 clearance just to hear. Before I realised what was happening, tears were streaming down my face again. Exhausted, scared, angry tears. Zach put his arm around me, cradling me and raining kisses on the top of my head, kissing away the tears. I weaved my fingers with his, and fell into a dream that was just me and Zach, telling each other how much we loved each other.

When I woke up in the morning, the room was empty. I stretched my fingers out across the bed, suddenly aware of how Zach was _not_ there. I sat up, only to observe the Zach-shaped dent in the mattress of where he slept last night. The curtains were drawn open, and the room was really bright.

I was still in the clothes I had worn last night, and they felt too tight on me. I walked into the huge bathroom to wash my face, but someone was in the shower.

"Macey?" I guessed.

"Close, Zach." Zach said from behind the shower curtain.

"Oh, sorry. I'll get out of your way." I said, backing out the door.

"Cammie, can you hand me a towel please?" Zach asked calmly, turning the water off.

"Uh… sure." I hesitated, before getting a folded towel, looking away and tentatively reaching into the shower. Zach took the towel from my hand the shower curtain shuffled.

I walked over to the sink, which had a mirror above it and I looked in the reflection at the bath/shower, which was on my left. Zach stepped out, and I mentally noted how gorgeous he looked with wet hair. He had wrapped the towel along his waist, and I vaguely observed how his abs were really well defined, and he had the V line (you know, the line that pretty much _all_ male models have?).

"Cammie, you're staring?" Zach smirked.

"Mhmm…" I said absently. And then I realised- I _was _staring, at _Zach_ while he was half naked. "I mean, uh, sorry." Zach just chuckled as he walked into the room to get changed, closing the bathroom door behind him. I looked in the mirror, and my reflection showed my cheeks blushing furiously. To distract myself, I ran a brush through my dark blonde hair. It now reached my shoulders, and I absentmindedly wondered if I should keep growing it out or cut it? My eyes were hazel, and I never really knew what specific hazel they were. According to my friends, my eyes are always changing, depending on what brings out specific colours. Even my eyes are chameleons.

Right now they were bluish green, because my top was a deep turquoise. And they looked sad. Even if I tried smiling, it looked like it didn't quite reach my eyes. It was strange. I speed-showered, brushed my teeth and put my hair in a ponytail. Zach was lying down on a bed, watching something on an iPad.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, pulling a fresh shirt from the closet.

"Liz went to observe surveillance, Macey and Bex decided to finish looking through your mom's office." He replied, frowning at the iPad screen.

"Oh. OK, then." I said, reminding myself they were trained spies, and they wouldn't miss any scrap of evidence. "What are you watching then?" I flopped down on the bed next to Zach.

"Surveillance." He replied, turning to look at me. "You don't have to watch, you know."

I clenched my teeth and said. "No, I want to. Show me." I took the iPad out of his hand, putting it back to the beginning. My mom was at her desk, typing something on her computer. Then the window smashed and three people wearing total black, including masks that covered their faces, broke in. My mom panther-punched one of the people, breaking his (or her) nose, but the other 2 pointed guns at her. She stopped fighting. She walked towards the window; one of the black clothed people grabbed her and jumped. The other two followed, but just before the last one left, he turned around and shot the camera. Everything went black.

I pressed the replay button. "Cammie…" Zach said gently, trying to talk the iPad away from me. I slapped his hand away. "Wait! I think I saw something!" I hissed. Desk, computer, typing. "Can we see what she was typing?" I asked.

"Already done, just an order for an HELKA++ security system." Zach filled me in. I pressed play again; breaking in, punch, gun, and walking. I paused, and rewound 3 seconds. Just a second after she started walking, her hip nudged one of the drawers in the desk. It was a small motion that wasn't easily spotted. "That's Gilly's old desk," I said thinking my thoughts out loud. "Gilly loved secret passageways, fake bottomed drawers, stuff like that."

"You think there might be something in there?" Zach asked, an excited smile creeping onto his face.

"I think there just might be."


	19. I Have A Thought

**You guys asked for more Zammie, and I promise there will be in the next few chapters :) Please remember to review and feel free to ask what you want in the stories like more Zammie and stuff :)**

I didn't bother sneaking down the halls; this was my chance to get my mom back, I wasn't going to waste one second of it sneaking around in hollow walls.

Everyone was just going into their classes, because the teachers were feigning normalcy even though everything was different down. Whispers followed me and Zach as I ran down the hallway, and Tina even gave a small squeal as I shoved past her. I was dragging Zach after me down the empty hallway that led to my mom's office when I tripped.

"Ow!" I cried out, slowing down to a limp as I landed on my ankle at a dodgy angle.

"Come on, no time to waste." Zach said, scooping me into his arms – yes, actual scoopage. I was pleasantly surprised, especially when he hugged me close to his chest, and I could smell his deodorant. It seemed to change constantly; last week he smelled like pepperminty musk, which didn't really smell nice at all, but this week he smelled like Nivea spray. It was better than the musk, but still not Zach-y enough.

Zach nudged to door open with his shoulder and crossed to room to put me down on the mahogany desk. While Zach looked for the drawer my mom had subtly shut in the surveillance tape, only now did I notice the flowers etched into the rims of the desk. It was a long stream of climbing flowers that went all the way around the desk. Zach slammed his hand on the dark mahogany desktop, making me jump.

"Dammit! It's not in here!" Zach said angrily.

"What? Are you sure? Did you check for a fake bottom?" I asked, slightly panicked. Zach lifted up the fake bottom as an example.

"Course I did." He sighed sadly. I hopped down off the desk. Gilly loved hiding things. She was a spy after all. I once discovered a secret tunnel _within_ a secret tunnel... But there was no way…

"Check the fake bottom _for _a fake bottom." I ordered Zach. Zach did so, and nothing happened. I was disappointed, until he pressed on the back of the bottom, and the front end flipped up. My jaw went slack. I wanted to freeze this moment so that I would have time to process it. But my body had a different idea. My hands reached forward and grabbed at what was inside the fake-bottomed fake-bottom.

I pulled out an old brown leather notebook that was thick and crinkly. On the inside cover in spiky handwriting it said "Matthew Morgan's Favourite Places". It was a notebook written by my dad? For some reason, I was disappointed. This was not what I was expecting to find. Zach stared at the notebook in my hand. None of us knew what to say, but I didn't think that a list of my dad's favourite places would help me save my mom.

"'Matthew Morgan's Favourite Places?' " A voice read over my shoulder. I tensed and turned around to find Sam with Mr Solomon standing behind him.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped. "What is he doing here?" I turned my attention to Mr Solomon.

"Helping you." Sam spent bluntly. "And could you be _less_ thrilled to see me?"

I glowered at Sam. "I still don't know whether to trust you or not."

"I let you escape!" Sam protested.

"Not before you tricked me into kissing you!" I objected. Mr Solomon's eyebrows shot way up but he didn't say anything. Sam shrugged in an annoying _what're you gonna do? _way.

Zach ignored Sam, and carried me in his arms to the sitting are near the fireplace. He sat down on a leather chair and put me on his lap so we could both see the book.

Matthew Morgan's Favourite Places; on the first page it said 'Switzerland because it has some of the best chocolate in the world', but underneath that he countered it with 'Italy has, hands-down, the best ice cream in the world'.

"This is never going to help us, is it?" I voiced my thoughts sadly to Zach. Mr Solomon looked over our shoulders.

"I haven't seen this thing in ages," Mr Solomon said, smiling at the sight of the book. "Matt kept it while we were at Blackthorne, said that when we got out we would visit all of these places."

"Yeah, but how is it going to help us find the Gallagher artefact?" I complained. "Even if my dad put the artefact in one of these places, they're not exactly specific, and it's worldwide!"

"Well, just use some logic. Your dad was kept by the Circle somewhere in the US before he was moved so that agents couldn't find him here. He would have wanted to keep it somewhere in the US so it was close enough that he could get it in emergencies, but not close enough it would be easy to find." Sam explained rationally.

"You know, he has a point." Zach said.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Sam wondered sarcastically.

"Anyway, me and Cammie have a lot of reading to do, so…" Zach lifted me up again in his arms, but I was too busy looking through the book. Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Romania, Malta, Turkey, Barbados, the list went on. There was nothing listed in the United States, or Canada or Mexico (although he did put _try tacos and the spiciest food I can find in Mexico_, but I don't think that would help). I looked through the book page by page, while Zach made a list of Most Likely Places it could be. There was no mention of the US, until I came to a page near the back. It was surrounded by blank pages my dad never got the chance to fill in. It said "Right underneath their noses" in Latin, and underneath that was an address.

"Do you recognise this?" I asked, pointing out the address to Zach. He shrugged.

"Let me look through the database." Zach said, typing the street name and state into the spy database. "It's a Circle address. A mansion they built for their official parties and meeting, ages ago."

"You don't think my dad hid the artefact there, do you? I mean, it says right underneath their noses', but that would be-"

"Incredibly risky. But incredibly clever." Zach finished for me. "So how are we going to get in?"

"Well, the Circle has some big parties every other month, don't they?" I asked.

"You have an idea?" Zach looked at me.

I allowed myself a small smile. "Well, I have a _thought_."

**Remember, in the prologue Zach and Cammie are at a party held by the Circle of Cavan (hint hint) :D**


	20. Happy Engagement

**We're nearing the end of the story, but don't worry, lots more excitement to come. Enjoy the chapter.**

"Tomorrow. We literally have half a day to get ready." Abby's voice let everyone know she was dead against my half-formed plan.

"On CoveOps missions we have an hour to get ready, sometimes less." I said in a small voice.

"Yeah, Squirt, on missions that your teacher has prepared, where the only real danger is getting a bad mark." Abby snapped.

"What happened to you, Abby? You were my dare-devil aunt and if I had suggested this plan to you _before_, you would have laughed and joined us." I countered.

"Things have changed, Cammie." Abby slammed her hands onto the table.

"So change them back, Abby." I mimicked her tone. Abby raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. I sighed, trying to get back in her good books. "Look, I'm supposed to graduate this year. If this school hasn't prepared me enough so that I couldn't graduate and become a full-blown spy, then why did I get job offers from MI7 and MI6 at the start of the year?"

Abby visibly paused. I did have a point, after all. I took this as a good sign to continue. "I know you Abby. You've done things just as daring in just as little time. And this is to get my mom back. So we picked a bad time, but I can't wait until February for another Circle party just to get my mom back!" My words echoed around the room. Abby looked at me imploringly, but I wouldn't blink; I wouldn't back down.

"Fine." She said softly. "You have 12 hours. Go and get ready."

I resisted the temptation to kiss her on the cheek (because Aunt Abby was not that into lovey-dovey stuff) and pump my fist into the air (for obvious reasons such as this was a serious matter), and dragged Zach off to my room to get ready. My friends (who already knew about my plan and were in the room when Abby gave the OK) had gone to various rooms to prepare for the mission. Bex went to security, Liz to surveillance, monitoring and actual planning, and Macey… was waiting for me in our room equipped with hair dye and a curling wand.

"Dear God no." I said, horrified.

"Oh, come on! You know you need a disguise and this time I don't think a wig's gonna cut it." Macey said, pulling me into a chair. Zach decided to stay for the show, and sat on a bed smirking. I gave him the evil eye, which only made him smirk more.

"Remind me again why I need a disguise?" I sighed, pulling my hair out of its bun.

"Because I'm pretty sure members of the Circle would want to get their hands on this artefact, for various reasons." Macey said, mixing together the hair dye. She was a freak of nature- she put in extensions in my hair in 10 minutes and immediately moved on to dyeing my hair a deep ruby red. I didn't look like myself. She trusted me to wash and condition my hair while she started working on Zach.

"Oh, crap." He muttered and I laughed evilly. Even with only my hair different, I looked strange. Like I was staring into the mirror at a stranger. Our eyes were the same but the rest wasn't. Macey had left contact lenses for me on the sink. As I slid them on, my irises turned blue, a more definite blue than my hazel eyes, and they looked like they had been blue all their life, nothing more, nothing less. They weren't chameleon eyes.

I looked older, and I was a new different person. I wasn't Cameron Ann Morgan anymore; I had no name (until someone gave me one). I went out of the bathroom and if I hadn't known it was Zach already, I would have thought that Macey was tying the bow-tie of a stranger.

"You look… wow." I said, speechless. Zach thought I was messing with him.

"Oh, thank you, Cammie." He said sarcastically. His bright green eyes were gone, replaced by warm brown contacts, his hair was slicked back and he looked fancy.

"No, I'm serious. But what's with the bowtie?" I asked.

Macey filled me in with, "The dress code is semi-formal masquerade."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because today is the Winter Solstice and, I don't know, somewhere along the line of Cavan's someone got obsessed with the meanings of dates and solstices and celebrations, so this party is a masquerade." Macey tossed me a black sequined mask with gold patterns on it, the type that could be held up on a stick. It was quite beautiful. Zach's mask was a half-faced mask, Phantom of the Opera style.

Macey pushed Zach out of the way and told him to sit on the bed, then went to get a dress for me. It was one shouldered, red and had flowing skirts that pooled around the floor in a mass of red silk. I then noticed it had a slit on one side to reveal my thigh. "Macey, you expect way to much of me," I said as a form of protest, but Macey was having none of it. I hid behind the huge wardrobe door and changed into the dress. It kind of reminded me of the dress I wore when the Blackthorne boys first came to Gallagher, the one that had almost fallen off me. Still, I obediently got dressed, and then, according to Macey, it was time for hair and makeup. Just as Macey was curling my vibrant red hair, Mr Solomon came in with some papers.

"Zach, Cammie, these are your identities. Fabian Masters and Angela Ramsey. You are a rich, young couple who believe the Circle is a charity. Angela, your father recently passed away and you want to use his money to help less-known charities. You two are soon to get married." Mr Solomon paused to give me a diamond ring. "Happy engagement, your wedding is next year in May and you couldn't be happier."

"And on that note, Cammie, you're done." Macey laid the last curl on my shoulder, and I glanced in the mirror, only to come face to face with Angela Ramsey, young, rich and in love.

It took one hour to get to the party, in which me and Zach memorised every detail on our sheets. Everyone else took care of the small details like adding out names to the guest list. The party was being held in a Circle mansion, illuminated in the chilly dark by pale lights.

"Here we go," I said softly to Zach, pressing on my ruby earring to turn the transceiver on. We were on our own now. We walked hand in hand up red carpeted stairs and into the warmth of the party. And I know it was unprofessional, but I was overcome with tears. This was so real. My dad may have hidden something here, something that could get my mom back… my mom who was right now waiting for someone else to save her. I hadn't realised I was trembling.

Zach very gently caught my fingers, steadying my hand. He wrapped his other arm around me, so he was tenderly hugging me. He held me close to his chest, which smelled like woodsy deodorant, and rested his chin on my head. I was glad. He hid me away from the outside world, muffling sounds until it was just me and him. A tear welled up in the corner of my eye, but I quickly swiped it away before Zach could see.

"It's going to be OK, Cam," He whispered, deliberately not using the alias Mr Solomon had given me just over an hour ago. "We're going to get through this. Don't give us away now."

My chest swelled with affection. I had never loved Zach more than I loved him now. Sweet, brave, charming, smirking, frustrating, loving, Zach.

"I won't give us away." I told him confidently. "I promise."

We stepped into the ballroom, momentarily dazzled by the beauty of the ancient room. The Circle spared no expense. In our disguises we weren't recognised. Zach had slicked his hair back, and he was wearing brown contacts. Macey had dyed my hair temporarily red and curled it until it fell like a ruby waterfall down my back. I was wearing blue contacts.

Nobody recognised us. Nobody except one person.

Across the hall, Sam lifted a champagne glass at us in greeting, and smirked.

Then he started walking directly towards us without hesitation. "What is he doing here?" I hissed. "He isn't supposed to be here."

Sam was near us now, and he was ignoring everyone else around him. It was suspicious to go up to someone in a party who you didn't know with so much purpose and confidence. A wave of panic hit me. "Zach, he's going to give us away." I whispered.


	21. Redtrent House

**Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while :) **

"Zach, he's going to give us away." I whispered. Zach stiffened beside me. We were not lucky; two other Circle members were also walking towards us. Sam and the other two people reached us at the same time. The other people were a woman with short and glossy black hair wearing a silver mask that covered her eyes, and a man with curly dark blonde hair who wasn't wearing a mask.

"Sam!" The Circle woman exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't know you were here, I thought you were helping Stephen at Gallagher?"  
"You know me, Sara; I can't miss a good party. Especially when you can meet such lovely people, like Angela Ramsey and Fabian Masters, am I right?" Sam turned his attention to me and Zach.

"Yes, have we met before?" Zach asked tersely.

"No. You were a last-minute addition to the list and the only people in this room I couldn't recognise." Sam explained. "Angela, Fabian, may I introduce you to one of the Cavan Charity's original sponsors, Sara and Eli Ford."

"Please, call me Angie." I said, trying to sound confident, but seeing Sam here had shaken me up a lot. Eli raised an eyebrow.

"This charity event is usually too full to let in last minute sponsors, so I'm curious, how did you get in?" He asked suspiciously, speaking with a Southern accent.

"I'm persistent, Mr Ford and sponsoring some of the less known charities is quite important, you see." I replied coolly, reciting the information Mr Solomon gave me. "You see, my father just passed away a few months ago, and I couldn't think of any way better to use the money he left me than to give it away to a charity." That should make him back off. I looked around and smiled. "This is such a lovely old house, isn't it Fabian?"

"You know, people are going on tours around the mansion," Sara said, quickly changing the subject. "Usually, you have to book in advance to take the tours but the groups are so big no-one would notice if you just slipped in. Actually, Eli's brother knows one of the tour guides; he could just set you up couldn't he?"

"That would be amazing, thank you." Zach smiled graciously, but I could tell he was excited- this was our chance to look for the artefact.

"Yes, well, speak of the devil, here he is now." Eli said, tapping someone on the shoulder. A man with sandy blonde hair turned around. "Sylvan, can you do me a favour?"

Shock drummed through me. This was _the_ Sylvan Ford who helped kidnap me. Of course! I shouldn't have been so stupid- the hair, the accent, the name, _Ford._ Eli Ford and Sylvan Ford were brothers. I waited, heart pounding to see if Sylvan Ford would recognise us.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Sylvan smiled. We were done for. "I haven't seen my baby brother for a month and the first thing he says to me is 'can you do me a favour'" Sylvan winked and slapped his brother playfully on the back. "Sure, what can I do for you?"

I silently thanked God for Macey's amazing talents with a curling iron and blusher. "Can you get Angela and Fabian into the next tour group?" Eli asked, gesturing in my direction. Sylvan shrugged.

"Consider it done," He then turned to face me and Zach with a smile. "The next group should leave in three minutes,"

I silently breathed out in relief. This was our chance. Zach exchanged small talk with Sara and Eli while I counted down the seconds until we could go and join the tour group. After 149 seconds I couldn't stand the tension anymore and said we should probably leave, after all I couldn't resist looking around such a beautiful mansion, and then practically towed Zach towards the large tour group. Sara wasn't lying- there were at least 70 people in one group. We silently slipped in and talked in hushed whispers while we waited for the tour to start.

Maybe it was just me, but it seemed to take ages. We were only about an eighth of a way around the tour when Zach tugged on my hand and we slipped into the shadows. Nobody noticed us while we hid inside a dark room behind a red velvet rope. While my eyes adjusted to the dark I noticed a lot of paintings and portraits of men and women in posh clothes. My eyes caught on one in particular painting of a beautiful woman with a sword standing alongside a man lying dead on the floor- it stood out from all the other paintings, partly because it was the only one that had blood in it and partly because it was the only one that had a wooden frame.

I knew instantly what it was- Gillian Gallagher killing Ioseph Cavan. Zach was looking at the painting too. He took my hand and squeezed it to comfort me. Then my transceiver crackled to life.

"Cammie, Zach, try to find something called Redtrent House- the message your father left is an anagram for it." Mr Solomon's voice said in my ear. Of course, Joe Solomon, my father's best friend would figure out how my father would embed a clue in his messages.

Zach nodded once, and then we began our search for Redtrent House. We had been searching for about 50 minutes when we saw a small door decorated with golden leaves. We had to crouch to get through it, but once we were inside we could stand up straight again. It was a child's room.

"Cammie… look." Zach whispered, pointing to something above the bed. It was a big picture of a woman… and Stephen and a baby. Was this Lenny's room?

"Sophia." I said softly, remembering the name of Stephen's wife- the one who had been kidnapped. At that moment I was more certain than ever that my dad had nothing to do with Sophia Cavan's disappearance. He would never do anything that would mean a small baby would grow up without a mother. My eyes scanned the room, and stopped when I saw something. I ran forward and my fingers traced the gold lettering that spelled 'Redtrent House'. It was a model of a house that was as tall as my waist. It was a beautiful mansion with gold edges and small models of horses and men in top hats and tailcoats, and women with big hoop skirts and petite umbrellas.

It was also dusty, meaning no-one had touched it in years. My heart started pounding madly. This was it. I was going to get my mom back.

Hands shaking, I opened the mansion up and found a small silver box etched with flowers. My hand reached forward to touch the cool metal.

"I knew it." A cruel, cold voice sneered behind me. I turned around to find Sara there, pointing a gun towards me, and a gun towards Zach. "The tour ended ten minutes ago, and when you weren't there that just confirmed what I already thought. Now you're going to come with me quietly and without struggling."  
"And if we don't?" Zach asked mildly. Sara smiled cruelly.

"If you don't, she's going to have a bullet in her head." She narrowed her eyes at me. I glanced at Zach who was looking at me, then to the artefact, then back at me. I stood up and picked up the box and hid it behind my back. I would have to put it somewhere else. I crouched and went back out the small doorway. There was nowhere to hide the box, but I couldn't just leave it in the room. Sara followed Zach out the doorway and gestured with her head which way we should go. Zach was looking at the end of the corridor, eyes wide with shock and anger. Just as Sara took the artefact out of my hands I saw what Zach was looking at.

At the other end of the hallway, Sam was hidden in the shadows, watching us.


	22. It's Empty

**Hey! My christmas present to you all is updating today! Thank you for sticking with Cammie and Zach right from the very beginning :) Merry Christmas! **

"Tell me what you're doing here!" Sara screamed, slapping my face. "Just tell me and I'll stop hurting you!"

"Get your hands off her or you'll regret it." Zach said in an eerily quiet voice. Sara simply laughed.

"You're next, lover boy." She warned him, punching me again. Blood started trickling from my eyebrow. "As I was saying, '_Angie_', what are you doing here, and why were you in that kid's room?"

"Why do you care so much?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to guess you know a lot about the Circle, and a lot about Stephen Cavan. You see, Stephen has circles of people who he trusts, unfortunately due to an accident a few years ago I am in the outer circles so I am not one of the people he trusts that much. Whatever you got from his daughters' room could potentially get me back in Stephen's good books, which is something I need. So, why don't you tell me who you are and what that metal thing is, and you can go?" Sara explained.

"Suggestion- why don't you take a long walk off a short cliff?" I suggested sweetly, even though it resulted in her punching my cheek. Zach smiled proudly at me. He was just as bruised and bloody as I was.

"Fine." Sara snapped. "Have it your way. Your turn, 'Fabian Masters'." Sara turned around to face Zach, hitting him with a spinning backhand to the head, which was an illegal move since it was so dangerous. But, why would Sara care if it was dangerous and illegal?

"Now that was a dirty move," Zach said, spitting blood on the floor. Sara shot him a barbaric smile.

"Would it loosen your tongue if my hand just… slipped?" Sara hinted, drawing a knife from her boot. "Now which one of you feels like talking?"

"Sara what the hell is going on?" A familiar voice said from the doorway. I squinted to see who it was, and I was surprised to find myself relieved when I saw Stephen. "And who are these people?"

"It's Cammie and Zach." Zach revealed tiredly.

"Wait, as in Cameron Morgan and Zachary Goode?" Sara asked, wide eyed.

"Yes as in Cameron Morgan and Zachary Goode!" Stephen exclaimed irritably. "Now what the hell are you doing with the knife?" Sara looked at the knife guiltily.  
"I thought that… I was just… I didn't know." Sara stammered.

"Just get out!" Stephen pointed angrily towards the door. Then he turned to me and Zach; bruised, beaten, bloody and tied up to metal chairs. "Are you all right?" He asked, started to untie us.  
"Just peachy, thanks." Zach replied sarcastically.

"What were you doing here? And why are you in disguise?" Stephen finished untying Zach and started on my binds.

"Because we were looking for the artefact and you never go behind enemy lines without some form of protection." I told him.

"And did you find it?" Stephen asked eagerly. Zach pointed to the silver box behind us on the table. I don't know how he managed to crack the code so fast, but within minutes Stephen had unlocked the box. He must have been waiting for this moment for a long time.

"It's empty." Stephen said quietly.

"What?!" I asked, confused.

"It's empty." Stephen showed me the box. It really did have nothing in it. "Thank you, Cammie, that will be all."

"What are you talking about?"

"I asked you to find the artefact to get your mother back, and you did. You can go now. I won't bother you again." Stephen's voice was hollow.

"But…" I said emptily, not really knowing what the _but _was.

"I said you can go now." Stephen leaned on the table, head in his hands with exhaustion. I lingered. It felt wrong to leave him like this.

"Cammie, we should go." Zach urged me, taking my hand and pulling me out the door. I walked out the door in a daze, the image of Stephen Cavan, a broken man, embedded in my mind. We walked out the door.


	23. Underneath the Floorboards

**Hello! I am so so so very sorry I haven't uploaded in... forever! If it interests you to know, I put all of my stories on a memory stick so I could put Windows 8 on my computer, it turns out Windows 8 doesn't have Microsoft Word it has something else which would be OK if I didn't lose my memory stick... Well done me. **

****I stared out of the window moodily, my eyes only half registering the fact that it was snowing, which usually would have put me in a good mood. Today the small soft flakes of snow just put me in a worse mood. "Cammie! Lunch is ready!" Grandma Morgan shouted up the stairs.

After me and Zach had left the Circle party, we found my mom unconscious in a limo Stephen had arranged to take me and Zach back to Gallagher. The second my mom woke up she sent me away to Nebraska- "A place far away from Virginia, and where the Circle would never suspect you'd go." She was taking a big risk sending me to a normal civilian's house that had no security measures (although I did spot a red haired woman walking down the country lane near my Grandparents' farm house, and then walking back the opposite direction with short blonde hair and a baby in a stroller.)

Of course my mom had sent a surveillance team on a 24 patrol of the house. But Grandma and Grandpa Morgan weren't spies- they didn't even know their own son was enrolled in a spy school. They would freak if they saw armed muscle surrounding our house like a fort. "Cammie! You need to eat!" Grandma Morgan called up the stairs again. I hopped down off the window ledge and padded out of my father's old dusty blue room and into the dining room that was attached to the living room. There was a steaming piece of lasagna on a plate. Grandma made it with chicken instead of beef- me and Grandpa hate beef.

Grandpa was already sat at the table. "What took you so long? Are you all right?" Grandpa asked, frowning at me over his spectacles.

"Yeah. I'm fine, I just haven't seen Dad's room in a while, it's... nostalgic." I offered as an explanation. Grandma came into the dining room and smiled. I took a bite of lasagna and it burned my tongue. I immediately grabbed a glass of cold water and started drinking deeply.

"I know what you mean, Cammie. Oh your father loved that room too, because it was so close to the tree outside the house. He once built a tree fort there with his friend from his high school, what was his name love?" Grandma asked Grandpa.

"I'm not sure- Joey, Joel something like that? No wait, it was Joe!" Grandpa exclaimed. I choked on my water, and started spluttering and coughing the water out of my lungs. Grandma and Grandpa exchanged worried glances.

"Are you all right, Cammie?" Grandma asked. I replied that I was fine, still coughing.

"I never knew Dad had such a good friend," I lied to lead the conversation on.

"Yes, Matt and Joe were best friends. He was a bit of a strange boy, but nice and polite nonetheless." Grandpa told me. "You know, I thought your mom mentioned he worked at your school. Do you know a Joe Solomon?"

"Mr Solomon was Dad's friend?!" I pretended to be surprised. Grandma beamed at me.

"Yes, now you see you can ask him about your dad!" She smiled. "Though if you wanted, I suppose you could read his journals. He always kept one, even when he was older." I squirmed in my seat, mood improving as I got more excited.

"Where are those journals?" I asked.

"Well, they should be in Matt's room- but Cammie! What about your dinner?" Grandma called after me, but it was too late, I had jumped out of my seat and ran up the stairs two at a time. Back in my dad's blue room, I tried to think- _If I was Matthew Morgan, pavement artist and a spy, where would I hide my journals?_

__Under the floorboards, of course. I scanned the floor fora loose floorboard, and near the bed I saw a floorboard that wasn't quite as flat as the others. I fell to my knees and pried the floorboard away. A splinter went into my finger, but I ignored it. Inside the floor was quite a lot of things- a camcorder, tapes, photographs and a brown leather journal. I took everything out and spread it on the bed. I wanted to read the journal but I was curious about the other things. In a frame was a picture of my dad and Joe Solomon when they were younger- the same picture I found hidden in my mom's desk the year I found out about Blackthorne. I turned the camcorder on, surprised that it was still charged. It was dusty from years of sitting underneath a floorboard, but it worked fine. I started the first video- it was my dad and Mr Solomon when they were young. Mr Solomon was crouching in the window, ready to jump onto the tree outside. Joe jumped and shook a few leaves off the branches, but skillfully lifted himself onto wooden planks nailed to the tree.

"Hey, Joe- catch!" My dad said, throwing the camera through the air. The view tumbled through the air but stopped in Joe's hand's and recorded my dad climbing onto the tree and the wooden planks.

"Hello, camera" Joe said in a funny voice, peering into the camera lens. My dad laughed, taking the camera from Mr Solomon's hand and pointed it towards Joe, who now had a serious face.

"Summary of surveillance- the spies, Joseph Solomon and Matthew Morgan, hereafter known as _the operatives- _have found out Important Information. There is a spy school in Virginia- an all girl spy school. We've seen some of them and they are _hot_!" Joe laughed, not serious anymore. My dad put the camera down but at an angle where the camera could still see him and Mr Solomon. They leaned back against a thick tree branch and opened 2 bottles of beers.

"One of these days, Joe. One of these days we're gonna find awesome girls who can kick ass, and we are going to fall for them so hard we're going to turn into soppy morons." My dad sighed. Joe smirked and looked at him.

"I saw the way you looked at that girl, Matty. What was her name- Rachel? Rachel Cameron." Joe nudged my dad, who laughed.  
"Now all I gotta do is find a way to talk to her." My dad sighed. "All I need to do right now is get out of Blackthorne. We are going to go around the world, then we're going to meet the right person, and we're going to get married. And you're going to be my best man." My dad said seriously.

"You're going to be my best man too. And who knows? Rachel has a sister doesn't she? Abigail." Joe laughed, finishing his beer. "I'm going to be your brother-in-law." He said in a sing-songy voice.

"Forget brother-in-law, man. You're already my brother," My dad said. "We need more beer." He stood up, knocking the camera over so it shut off. I swallowed back a lump in my throat, putting in the next tape.

It was a tape of my mom, holding newborn me in her arms. She grinned at the camera, tilting me towards the camera. My mom handed me to Joe, who was beside the bed with a pink teddy bear helium balloon. "Cammie, meet your godfather," My mom said softly. Joe looked up suddenly, and it might have been a camera malfunction but I thought Joe's eyes looked slightly weird and watery.

"Really?" He said, his voice full of surprise. My mom nodded, and Joe smiled. Then the video turned off. The next one was me when I was a toddler, my hair was in pigtails. I was riding a tricycle and my dad and Joe were talking in the background. I must have hit a bump and fell off the tricycle. I started crying and my dad immediately handed the camera to Joe and ran over to me.

"Ah, parenting at work!" Joe chuckled. My dad bought me into his arms and walked over to Mr Solomon.

"Hey, Cammie, who's this? Huh, who's this?" My dad cooed, pointing towards the camera.

"Uncle Joe." I said in a sweetly high voice. Joe took me in his arms and handed the camera to my dad. Joe kissed me on the cheek and threw me high into the air before catching me again. It instantly cheered me up and I was laughing.

I must have been really young, I thought, switching off the camera. I don't even remember Joe Solomon before Gallagher. I started on the journal. By the time I was at the fifth page I was already hooked. I found out stuff that didn't make sense- that needed explaining. By the time I finished, it was dark outside. I needed fresh air. I needed answers. I grabbed a sweater and ran down the stairs and outside. I gasped in the cool air, the back garden only illuminated by the lights of the house.

My spine prickled, and I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around and was only half-surprised to find Sam standing there. I held up my dad's journal to him.

"I guess... I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." Sam said hoarsely.

**By the way, please friend me on Goodreads if you like, my name is Oanya on there as well, and please give me your name if you have one in the reviews. If you friend me, it would be easier to tell you about my other stories once this one finishes. I'm thinking about making a sequel to this one, if you guys would be interested? We'll see how it goes :)**


	24. Favour to Keep

**You guys were wondering why Sam was there at the end of the last chapter... as a New Years present to you guys, you're going to get the explanation early! **

_**SAM**_

_****_Cammie held up her dad's journal, her eyes were watery. "I guess... I guess I have some explaining to do." I said, my voice was hoarse.

"Yeah. You do." Cammie wrapped her sweater tighter around her. "Why didn't you tell me you knew my dad?"

Time slowed down. My heartbeat sped up. I had seen Cammie scared, angry, happy, in love, confused. But I had never seen her so shaken, like everything she knew in life had been taken away from her. Because if she read the journal, she would have seen the final entry that Matthew put in. The final plan to bring down the Circle of Cavan. I was part of that plan. I failed to do my part, and because of me, her father got caught and now he's dead.

Cammie was still looking at me. I held my hand out for the journal, and she reluctantly gave it to me. I turned to one of the first few pages and read Matthew's spiky handwriting.

_I met a boy today called Sam. I caught him trying to follow me. He's only a young teenager, but he says that his father was killed by the Circle of Cavan. He says that his mother is one of the leaders of the Circle, and that he left his father to go find his brother who was still under the care of their mother. He told me that he was almost there, but he caught some conversation- some Circle members said that they found the house of the Circle traitor, Thomas Goode, and they're planning to go there that night. Before Sam left to go warn his father, he also overheard my name._

_When Sam got back he found his father dead. Ever since, he's been trying to find me. He found out what I did- I managed to bring down one of the bigger Circle organisations only a few weeks ago. He joined the Circle as a way of getting closer to information that could be useful. He wants to help me bring down the Circle. He has no allegiance to the Circle, but they think that he is their ally. We're coming up with a plan that will bring down the Circle forever. He's going to help me._

__I read those words quickly, and then took a deep breath. "What... would you like me to explain?" I asked Cammie. I didn't know where to start.

"How about you start with, why did you show up at Gallagher. And why didn't you tell me and Zach that you were always on our side?" Cammie suggested.

"When I showed up at Gallagher, I was telling the truth- I did come to warn you that the Circle were planning to kidnap you. But I was trying to do it discreetly. I sneaked out of the headquarters in the middle of the night, but one of the guards saw me and didn't recognize me. He shot me in the shoulder and kept shooting. I had to steal a car but it broke down about a mile away from Gallagher. I walked the mile in a rainstorm, I lost a lot of blood. When you found me, I saw you and Zach, and I saw the way he looked at you. I didn't tell you I was never your enemy because the worst vice a spy can have is emotional connections. He already has you, I didn't want him to feel the need to stick up for me either." I explained. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't tell him about this either."  
"But-" Cammie started to protest.

"But nothing, Cammie. This will be our secret, and Zach will never, _ever_, like me- OK?" I said forcefully. Cammie didn't look happy, but she nodded.

"I don't really know what to ask next." Cammie mumbled.

"That's good. It's better if you don't know that much about me. Stephen still needs to think I'm on his side." I said quietly.

"But, when you said that you were trying to help me, and then you pretended to be with the Circle, but really you were still with us, but you kept your Circle reputation by having us not trust you.." Cammie started saying. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Cammie started again. "Basically, you lied to us by telling us the truth?"

"Yes. Basically." I lied to them by telling the truth. I was lying with the truth. That seemed the easiest way to put it.

I looked back to the journal. It was outlining the details of our plan, how we were going to blackmail one of the biggest groups of the Circle into splitting up their 'empire' and effectively destroying the Circle. Cammie stood beside me and read over my shoulder. She flipped over the page. "There is one more thing- I read this and I was wondering- is my dad talking about the artefact and the clue that would lead Stephen to his wife?" Cammie asked.

"I don't know.. let me see..." I said, reading the passage. _I found another Gallagher artefact, and I managed to open it. Inside was a clue, of sorts, but I didn't understand it. I guess it doesn't matter though, I still need to hide it somewhere safe- right underneath their noses. I know Stephen Cavan has a daughter. Where is Stephen never going to look? His daughters' dollhouse. It's so perfect its hillarious. Though, I do feel quite sorry for him. His wife was kidnapped. I can't imagine Cammie growing up without Rachel- a child without a mother is just unimaginable. But, if mine and Sam's plan works, the Circle will be over, and Stephen will get his wife back. It's a win-win plan. Because while I don't understand what the clue is talking about, I know why it's there. I know who kidnapped Stephen's wife-_

I snapped the book shut before I finished the page. "Yes, I remember. Matthew wouldn't tell me who kidnapped Stephen's wife, he thought it would be dangerous information for me to know." I said, my voice hollow.

"You know Sam, I don't blame you for what happened to my dad." Cammie said, her eyes closed.

"I don't deserve that, Cammie. It was my fault," I whispered.

"Maybe, maybe not. The way I see it is, there was a mission that didn't go exactly to plan. It was nobody's fault." I smiled faintly at Cammie's words.

"You're a good person to be around Zach, Cammie. I'm glad he has someone like you." I told her. She blushed. "And I'm sorry about your dad. He was a good person."

"Yeah, yeah he was." Cammie nodded. "Could you do me one last favour?" She asked. "Show Stephen the clue. Not all of it, not the part that outs you as a Circle traitor, but the clue to where his wife is. Nobody deserves to grow up without a mother."

"Cameron! Who are you with out there?" Someone called from inside the house. I slunk back into the shadows. Cammie looked around, but couldn't see me anymore. She smiled faintly.

"There's no-one out here Grams, it's just me. You probably saw a shadow!" Cammie called back. She gave one last look behind her, then stepped into the house. She didn't look back again. I clutched the journal in my cold hands. I had a favour to keep.


	25. Graduation

**2 things- Firstly, hope you all had a happy new year. I spent mine sitting bored but then I ended up as a DJ from 9-12 which was quite cool. Secondly, you guys are sad the story is over? Why? There are at least 3 chapters left to this story and probably a sequel too. I've been pondering the title and I think it will be called Hidden in Plain Sight. Any other suggestions?**

**CAMMIE**

That was the last time I saw Sam. I walked back into the Morgan farmhouse as if nothing happened, and waited until I could return home to my beloved Gallagher. I spent the rest of the year as normally as I could - despite the fact that everyone stopped talking as soon as I stepped in the room, I got given extra-credit for escaping the Circle's hideout and all of my friends (apart from Macey, Bex, Liz and Zach) avoided me. And even Tina Walters making up rumours didn't bother me any more, it made me feel as if I were truly home again.

I didn't know whether Sam did what I asked him to do, I wasn't sure whether Stephen Cavan was a bad man or just a man desperate to patch up the broken pieces of his family. I didn't know what to do with the information I knew. One day, I looked at Zach and I almost thought he was Sam- apart from the two pale scars Sam had on his left cheek, but even those were barely obvious- and once I realised it was in fact Zach, i thought, _they're brothers, and Zach has the right to have someone he trusts._

And then I realised, he has me. And he might even trust Bex, Macey and Liz. It was better that way. He has friends to trust, not family. And maybe what Sam said was true- it's better that way. I won't tell Zach the truth about Sam. I won't tell anyone.

Of course, I'm required to put it in this mission report. And since you, the reader, must have at least a level 9 clearance, I suppose I can trust you to keep this secret. Yes, I know it's unprofessional to write it so sentimentally, but you don't understand. This year has been beyond crazy, and if missions and mission reports are one thing, it's organised. So it just wouldn't fit.

I didn't hear anything from the Circle or Stephen- as I was promised. And I kind of hoped to keep it that way. My days sneaking around and getting into trouble are over. I will miss it, but I'll still be Cammie the Chameleon. I'll just be known as Agent Morgan instead.

Graduating at Gallagher is both a big deal and a small event. Yes, well done for being the best of the elite, but we must remain humble and modest, cool and collected. Like we're trained to be. But, behind the scenes, every girl- and even the one boy- was buzzing with excitement. Outside, I sat calmly and waited for my name to be called up. Instead of graduation papers, we would get degrees in Multiple Languages, De-Coding Level Fourteen, Martial Arts and Combat Level 20 and job offers in the form of coded letters from whoever wanted us.

_Baxter, Rebecca _received her degrees with a triumphant smile, if not an annoyed glint in her eyes at being called Rebecca. Her parents flew out especially from Malaysia to see this day. _Fetterman, Anna_ also survived, which was a nice surprise (not in a bad way, but I honestly once saw the girl crack her head open by doing something that involved a mascara, a small mirror and stairs). _Goode, Zachary _was incredibly handsome and got a thick stack of degrees and job offers.

_McHenry, Macey _looked gorgeous as usual as she received her offers and degrees. I think I was most proud of her. And then _Morgan, Cameron_ was called. I was trembling on the inside, excited and nervous. I had been waiting for this moment since forever, and it was all I could to to stop myself from sprinting towards the podium where my mom stood proudly. When I got to her, she shook my hand, and I went to where Mr Solomon was holding my degrees and job offers. I liked the way the heavy stacks of paper felt in my hand- full of promise. As Mr Solomon shook my hand, I subtly leaned in and whispered "There's no better Godfathers than you," And I meant it. Mr Solomon looked surprised, but he smiled.

I took my seat again and waited until _Sutton, Elizabeth_ was called. Liz's tiny figure looked minuscule compared to my mother in heels. Mr Solomon handed her her sheets, and she had to hold them in 2 hands, the stack was so big. She made her way over to the seats and in true Liz style dropped a few of the papers with an _oopsy daisy_. I looked at Zach to see that even he was smiling in a fond way. Because forget Blackthorne, Gallagher was him home.

After the ceremony, me and Zach were walking around aimlessly, opening the job offers. I had MI7, MI5, CIA, and Assault Team in the International Espionage Facility. Zach had MI5, gunman in the Retrieval Unit, private assassin for the CIA and Team leader for the FBI. Nothing that he really wanted, I knew, because most of those focused on the skills he picked up at Blackthorne. And I knew he wanted to put those painful memories far behind him.

"Eh, excuse me, Miss Morgan and Mr Goode?" Said a squeaky voice from behind us. I turned around to find a man around Liz's size, who was wearing dark sunglasses and kept mopping his face with a handkerchief.

"Yes?" Zach answered for the both of us.

"Eh, I'm Special Agent Carlton, and, eh, I have letters for the both of you." He told us. It quickly started to annoy me the way he said _eh_ a lot. "Job offers as Private Spies. Anyone who wants to, eh, hire you as private investigators will do so if you accept the job offer. But, eh, you won't belong particularly to any one firm."  
"Both of us?" I exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Your, eh, _experience, _with the Circle of Cavan showed, eh, skills that are good for private investigators. It's, eh, a very valuable job. Good pay, lots of free time and all. Ooh, and eh, I have another letter for Miss Morgan. Eh, a young man who looked a lot like Mr Goode handed it to me and told me to, eh, give it to you. I was about to tell him I'm not a messenger, but, eh, he just dissapeared before I got the chance." Agent Carlton said crossly, stuffing the envelope into my hand before excusing himself. Me and Zach looked at eachother- the young man had to be Sam. I opened the letter. It read: _Cammie. Message delivered, Sophia was found, a little worse for wear. Stephen sends his many thanks. From S.G. _

_P.S. Take care of him for me._

__Zach stared at me. "I'm not even going to ask." He said, putting his hands up in exasperation. "But you be careful, Cammie. He may be my brother but I do not trust him."

I didn't say anything. _Take care of him_. He must have meant Zach.

I will, I thought. I promise. We walked towards the group of our friends, ready to start our lives. Together.


	26. THE END

**THE END**

**Hey guys this is just a notice to tell you that while Lying with the Truth is over, the sequel to it - Hidden in Plain Sight - will be out today! **

**x Oanya**


End file.
